The Campbell Chronicles

The Third Month

2012-01-14T22:57:00.000-05:00

I am way behind in posting Benjamin's monthly updates! We are traveling right now, so I'm hoping to grab a few minutes here and there while we're on the road to do some catch-up work with the blog.

Ben's third month passed in a whirlwind of activity. He celebrated his first Halloween (as an adorable zebra -- see picture here), and his first Thanksgiving. And in between those two firsts, we packed up our things, said goodbye to our life in Portugal, and made yet another international move. Baby Ben took his first trip on an airplane and was an absolute angel during the long flight from Lisbon to Chicago. And before he was three months old, the little guy had already been in three countries!

Back in the States, we settled into my parents' house. Benjamin enjoyed all the extra attention from Nyanya and Babu. He started taking baths in the big bathtub, using a baby bath chair. He met his Great-Grandmother, Ruth, and his Great-Nyanya, Nadine. He discovered his hands. He loves to suck on his fists or use his hands to bat the toys on the arches of his playmat. Night-time sleeping was a little rough when we first got back -- adjusting to a new time-zone, plus getting used to a new bed in a new room. Eventually, he got back into the pattern of waking up just once or twice during the night. He usually goes back to sleep right away after eating, so I can't really complain, but I am sure looking forward to sleeping for 8 hours at a time again!

Here are a couple of pictures of 3-month old Benjamin:

Sweet, smiling boy

And this picture, just because I thought it was hilarious!

New Beginnings for a New Year

2012-01-09T00:27:00.000-05:00

I didn't make New Year's resolutions this year. I usually do make them. And they are usually the same resolutions each year: Exercise more. Have regular God-time. Write more. Go to bed earlier. Drink more water and less caffeine. Etc. And then, a few weeks (okay, who am I kidding, a few days) into the new year, I've fallen off the wagon and back into my old ruts and ways of doing things. Habits are so hard to break. So as 2011 faded away, to be replaced by a fresh calendar, a whole year of blank, white squares, I was resolved not to make any New Year's resolutions. Who needs a bunch of unmet goals staring you in the face when you already struggle with feelings of failure?

But a new year is an appropriate time for new beginnings, I suppose. A time for old habits to give way to new ones. Because isn't that the best way to break a habit? By replacing it with another, better, healthier one? And so this past week, I was inspired to make two new beginnings, to try to weave two new simple habits into the fabric of my daily life.

The first new beginning was inspired by one of my daily reads, Ann Voskamp's blog, A Holy Experience. I received Ann's book as a Christmas present this year and have thought for some time about beginning my own "gifts list," but never actually started on it. And then I read this post and decided to take the "Joy Dare." Chronicling three gifts each day this year, I will count my way to 1,000 gifts in 2012. I'm keeping track of my gifts in my prayer journal, but I may share some of my list from time to time here. Join me if you like -- click here for the details.

And the second new beginning is simply the commitment to spend time in the Word each day. I'm challenging myself to read through the entire Bible in one year (actually, because I started on January 7th, I won't actually finish until a few days into 2013). There are many different "Bible in a year" reading plans. I decided I wanted to read the Bible chronologically, so it reads more like a story, and I am using The Message rather than a traditional version. I created an account on youversion.com and set up my reading plan with a few clicks. Each day, I can log on and do my assigned readings on my laptop -- what could be easier?

New beginnings, A fresh start for the new year.

Top Ten: Things I'll Miss About Portugal

2011-11-09T10:51:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe that we are winding down our time in Portugal. Just two more nights in our apartment before we board a plane to cross the wide ocean yet again. I actually feel pretty good about where we are and what we still have left to do, which is a first for me. At this stage of the game, I'm usually panicking because there is so much left to do and so little time to do it in! But this time, we've somehow managed to get mostly packed, and have just a few errands left to run and some cleaning to do before we're ready to go. I might actually even get some sleep the night before we leave! This afternoon, Rusty took Alex to the Oceanario, which he has been begging to do one last time before we go. It was supposed to be a family outing, but Stephen is coming down with a cold, so I stayed home with the younger two while Rusty and Alex have some father-son time.

While the house is quiet with napping children, I thought I would take the opportunity to sneak in a blog post before we leave. It only seemed appropriate to pay tribute to the country that has been our home for the past nearly two years by sharing some of the things that I'll miss when we're gone:

Coffee -- I'll be honest -- Portuguese coffee just makes Starbucks' drinks seem even more overpriced than they already are. For around 1 euro (more or less depending on the type of drink you have), you can get a decent cup of coffee at any café (and there is one of those on nearly every street corner). The Portuguese like to drink shots of espresso from tiny little cups. I never got into that, but I enjoy a meia de leite (literally, "half of milk"), which is basically a latte -- espresso with steamed milk. Rusty is partial to the galão, which is the same thing as a meia de leite, only larger and served in a glass instead of a cup.
Fresh bread -- The bread here is amazing! We can walk to three different cafés in our neighborhood, where they churn out their own freshly baked loaves every day. Rusty likes to go early in the day when the bread is still warm from the oven. Why buy factory-made bread when you can buy this?
Pasteis -- Or, pastries, as we would say in English. The same cafés where we buy our bread also offer a wide array of delectable pastries to satisfy your sweet tooth. My favorite is the pastel de nata, or custard tart, but I also like the croissants filled with Nutella!
Frango de Churrasco -- This is chicken, cooked on the grill, and it is yummy! We like ours with extra piri piri, a hot red pepper sauce. There is a great little joint, just down the hill from our apartment, called Princesa dos Frangos (we lovingly refer to it as the Chicken Princess), that turns out the juiciest, most flavorful chicken you have ever tasted. I requested this as my "welcome home meal" when Benjamin and I came home from the hospital.
Yogurt -- I don't know what it is, but the yogurt here is just so much better than American yogurt! The Portuguese take their yogurt seriously -- at Continente, the big mega-store where we do a lot of our grocery shopping, there is an entire aisle (both sides) dedicated to yogurt. It was a bit overwhelming at first! But we soon discovered our favorites. Mine is the peach/passion fruit blend that we can buy in big tubs at Lidl, a German chain. The boys like to drink the liquid yogurt for breakfast in the morning.
Oranges -- Portuguese oranges are so sweet and juicy. It's probably something to do with the Mediterranean climate they're grown in. And at many restaurants, you can order a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice, usually for just a little more than what a soda would cost. Yes, please!
Tiles and cobblestones -- The cobblestone streets and sidewalks give Lisbon such an old-world feel. And I've always been fascinated by the colors and patterns of the tiles that cover everything from buildings to fountains to tunnels to the interior of the metro stations.
Foliage -- I was delighted to make the discovery after arriving here that Lisbon has many beautiful jacaranda trees! Other tropical foliage like bougainvillea abounds. Seeing these plants and trees brings back happy memories of my childhood growing up in Kenya.
Our neighborhood -- I really love the fact that we live within walking distance of everything we need in our daily life -- bank, post office, supermarket, café, pharmacy, clinic, school. There's even an urgent care facility just up the street from our house! I love the park that backs up against our apartment building. Listening to the waterfall when the windows are open is so soothing and peaceful. I love that there's an IKEA close by, and that the beach is only a 30-minute drive away.
People -- I saved the best for last, because aren't the people what you miss the most about any home? Ana, who has cared for Stephen during our language lessons, loved him like he was her own, and gone above and beyond the "call of duty" in so many ways. Eunice, so much more than a language teacher, she was also a counselor, confidant, and friend. And of course, our Lisbon church family -- so many people come to mind who opened their hearts and their homes to us, who were patient with us while we were learning their language, who taught and befriended our children, who joyfully helped us welcome our third son. They have loved and blessed us in so many ways.

We've lived in Portugal for a little less than two years now. At first, it was difficult for me to feel like this place was home. Mostly because I came into it thinking we'd only be here for 9-10 months. It's hard for me to really settle and feel at home somewhere when I know I'm only there temporarily. I felt like a perpetual tourist. I also didn't have a lot of my "stuff," the things that for me, help a place feel like my home rather than just some run-of-the-mill furnished apartment -- pictures for the walls and things like that. But slowly, as a few months turned into a year and then a year became nearly two years, that sense of home started to grow in me. I was walking around our apartment this morning, taking stock of what we still have left to pack, and thinking what a cozy home this has been for us. We've made some good memories here, had a lot of people in and out, celebrated Christmas and birthdays, instituted some fun family traditions, even welcomed another baby! I feel truly blessed to have spent nearly two years of my life living in Lisbon, Portugal. It has become our home, one of the many homes that we've had through the years, and we will miss it, maybe not in the same way that we miss Japan or even Oregon, but we'll miss it, nonetheless.

It seems appropriate to close with one of my favorite quotes, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson: "I am a part of all that I have met; yet all experience is an arch wherethrough gleams that untravelled world whose margin fades for ever and for ever when I move.”

The Second Month

2011-11-02T19:01:00.000-04:00

For me, the second month is usually when I feel like I finally find my new groove with my new baby. A routine begins to emerge. Certain tasks become automatic. I've figured out what he likes, what he needs, and when. I have time and energy once again for things besides baby. Life starts to feel normal again.

Benjamin is now sleeping in his own bed most all night. He still wakes up once or twice to eat, but he usually goes right back to sleep without any fussing. Recently, he even slept the night through -- from 10:00 p.m. until almost 6:00 a.m. I had forgotten how great several hours of uninterrupted sleep could feel! His daytime routine is still a bit unpredictable, but that is probably related to the fact that our own schedule is pretty unstructured right now. Whatever sleep-wake rhythm I take the time to help him establish now is only going to get messed up with the upcoming transition back to the States. So Benjamin sleeps whenever he's tired and wherever we happen to be at the time -- at home, at school, in the car, at church. He doesn't seem to mind.

At his 2-month check-up this week, Benjamin weighed in at 5.7 kilos (about 12.5 pounds). He's developing fat rolls and a muffin top -- obviously, this kid loves to eat! I went ahead and moved him into 3-6 month size clothes, mainly so that I could leave behind all his newborn and 0-3 month clothes. The less we have to haul back from Portugal, the better. He's become quite smiley and is starting to interact and coo more -- so fun! He still takes a paci, but he also enjoys sucking on his fist, and once or twice, he's managed to get his thumb in his mouth. Maybe we'll have another thumb-sucker?

Here's Ben's two-month picture. Adorable, no?

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T11:23:00.000-04:00

I thought about just ignoring Halloween this year since we are in the midst of packing and getting ready to leave! But Alex would have none of that, so we are celebrating, but keeping it pretty low-key. Last week, we made a few homemade decorations for the apartment, and on Friday, we took the boys to a Halloween party at Alex's old school. They dressed up in their costumes, and I made cupcakes topped with candy-corn to take to the party. Alex enjoyed seeing all his friends again, and we were able to say goodbye to his teacher and give her the present we made for her. Yesterday, after we got home from church, the boys painted pumpkins and Rusty carved two jack-o-lanterns. And we'll take the boys trick-or-treating tonight -- Rusty called around and made arrangements with a few friends in the neighborhood!

A cowboy, a zebra, and a train conductor

Alex's costume -- a toy gun set and a cheap hat from the Chinese store, plus a bandana and Mommy's boots! Rusty gets all the credit for the creativity here. I told him he can be in charge of Halloween costumes from now on.

Pumpkin carving

Pumpkin painting

Nyanya and Babu's Visit

2011-10-19T18:28:00.001-04:00

At the end of last month, we enjoyed a two-week visit from my parents, known to our boys as Nyanya and Babu ("grandma" and "grandpa" in Swahili). We so enjoyed hosting them and introducing them to Benjamin and our life in Portugal! And we managed to pack a lot of fun experiences into the time they were here.

For the first few days, we showed Mom and Dad some of the sights in and around Lisbon. We spent an afternoon in Belém -- having lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, the Estrela de Belém, seeing the Monument to the Discoverers, touring the Jerónimos Monastery, and sampling yummy pasteis de Belém (the world's very best custard tarts).

The Monument to the Discoverers

Another day, we went to Sintra. While my parents toured the Pena Palace, Rusty and I hiked some of the trails on the palace grounds. We then met up for a picnic lunch on the grounds. Mom and Dad also toured the Moorish Castle before we headed home.

The Moorish Castle

On Saturday, with all the kids in tow, we went to Sobreiro. The boys enjoyed showing Nyanya and Babu around the craft village, and Mom even got to do a little souvenir shopping!

Nyanya and Stephen on the playground at the craft village

Sunday, of course, was church... followed by lunch at our favorite Indian restaurant.

Let's face it -- this is the real reason Nyanya and Babu came to Portugal!

Then, for the entire next week, we enjoyed a trip to Spain! Early Monday morning, we loaded up the van we had borrowed from our friends, Ricardo and Diana, and headed out -- destination: Málaga, Spain. Around lunchtime, when we were still in southern Portugal, the van started having problems, so we pulled over. After losing a few hours visiting several different mechanics to determine the problem, we realized that we were going to have to stay the night and continue on our way the next day. Ricardo drove down from Lisbon with the church van (bless him!), arriving later that night, and then took his van back to Lisbon to his mechanic there.

We found a quiet pension in the sleepy little town of Olhão in southern Portugal. It wasn't a bad place to be stuck for a night! The boys enjoyed playing in a nice park right on the waterfront; we had a yummy seafood dinner; and the next morning, we discovered what Rusty called "the best breakfast in Portugal" at the cafe around the corner from our pension. Then we were on our way again, finally arriving at our condos in Málaga later that afternoon.

We enjoyed swimming in the pool... hanging out on the beach... playing games... reading... I even managed to find some time to write on two different afternoons while everyone else was napping! We did most of our own cooking or got take-out, but one night, we all went out to eat.

Alex and Babu in the pool

At the beach

Mom and Dad wanted to visit Morocco, so they took a day-trip with a tour group, while our family headed for Gibraltar. I half-expected Gibraltar to be really lame, but it ended up being totally cool, and we wished we could spend more than just a few hours there! After we finally got across the border (we sat in traffic for an hour because a plane needed to take off and they had closed the road, which crosses the runway), Rusty decided he wanted to drive around the island -- just for fun! We had the quintessential British lunch of fish 'n chips at a fun pub called The Horseshoe. Then, we took a "taxi tour" of the Upper Rock Nature Reserve. Highlights included St. Michael's Cave, the Apes' Den, the Great Siege Tunnels, and of course, the Top of the Rock, with fabulous views! We were really glad we did the taxi tour rather than trying to hike everywhere with our three kiddos, plus our guide was pretty funny. The only thing Alex was disappointed about was that he didn't get to ride the cable car.

At the Apes' Den -- and no, I wasn't too happy about the monkey being on my back!

The view from the Top of the Rock

Another day, we all went together to the town of Ronda, one of the old frontier towns of Spain. The town straddles a deep gorge, and the two sides are connected by three gravity-defying bridges. It was a lovely town to just walk in, all the while admiring the stunning views. Rusty and the boys also toured the bullring, the oldest in Spain, while Mom and Dad and I did some souvenir shopping.

The New Bridge -- Ronda, Spain

Back in Lisbon, we spent the two days before Mom and Dad left doing more sight-seeing. We spent one day downtown, driving through the Alfama district, going to some of the miradouros (viewpoints) and having lunch near the Praça do Commercio. The next day, we visited the Tile Museum, a really fascinating place, and had a lovely lunch in the museum restaurant afterwards. Then, it was back home so they could pack for their flight the next day.

Looking over lovely Lisbon

For more pictures and commentary, you can click on either of the two links below to view my Facebook albums. These are public links, so even if you don't have Facebook, you should still be able to see the pictures.

Nyanya and Babu Visit Portugal
Spain and Gibraltar

This is How I Go to School (Part 2)

2011-10-14T09:27:00.000-04:00

This is the second of two videos that show Alex going to school. (For the first video, click here.) One thing that the first video doesn't really show is any footage from the window during the bus ride. This is because, on the first day, when Rusty started to get on the bus with the camcorder, the bus driver told him to put it away! He was not at all happy about Rusty filming on the bus for some reason. On this day, Rusty waited until he got on the bus and then surreptitiously began filming after he and Alex were settled in their seats. In this video, you'll be able to see the city of Loures and some of its environs.

Enjoy!

This is How I Go to School (Part 1)

2011-10-13T04:08:00.000-04:00

Rusty shot this footage of Alex on his way to school about this time last year. Turning it into a video and uploading it to Youtube so we could share it with others was always on my list of things to do, but for one reason or another, I never seemed to get to it. Lately, one of my ongoing projects has been creating and organizing our family videos from the backlog of footage that was on our camcorder. A lot has changed in our lives since Rusty took these videos. For one thing, we have a car now, so we don't have to ride the bus and walk to take Alex to school. For another, Alex isn't even attending Peixinho Azul anymore. Last month, he started Kindergarten at the local elementary school a short walk from our house.

I hope you enjoy this peek into part of daily routine while we lived in Portugal! Tune in for Part 2 tomorrow.

The First Month

2011-10-07T18:51:00.000-04:00

Wow! It's hard to believe that our Benjamin will be six weeks old tomorrow. Time seems to go by so fast in the early weeks with a newborn, when you can almost see them changing before your very eyes. At the same time, there are moments when this phase seems interminable, usually in the middle of the night when I'm dealing with an infant who can't seem to stay asleep anywhere but right on my chest!

Rusty and I agree that Benjamin has definitely been our fussiest baby. Of course, after laid-back Stephen, any baby would seem fussy, but Benjamin can be pretty colicky. There are times when he grunts a lot and acts like his tummy hurts, and he spits up more than my other two. I haven't figured out yet if it's something I'm eating or not. I have basically stopped eating spicy food for awhile and have cut back the amount of caffeine I consume. That seems to be helping somewhat. I probably should give up caffeine entirely, but I just can't resist an occasional cup of iced coffee or a coke on pizza night!

In the last week, Benjamin has started to settle down a little bit. I wouldn't say he has any sort of routine yet, but he is starting to sleep longer stretches (in his own bed!), to self-soothe, and even to put himself to sleep on occasion. When he's awake, he is alert and interested in his surroundings. He loves to sit in his bouncy chair and watch the world go by! He nurses well, takes a paci, and sucks his fist on occasion. Alex and Stephen enjoy singing to Benjamin, and if he is fussy, he usually calms right down when he hears them.

At his first doctor's appointment when he was two weeks old, Benjamin had already gained over a pound. He has another appointment next week, and I am curious to find out how much weight he will have gained by then. He has already outgrown several of his newborn-size outfits and onesies. They certainly don't stay little long!

Here are a few memorable moments from Benjamin's first month:

First time in the sling

First Sunday at church. They said a very special prayer of blessing for Benjamin and our entire family.

Brotherly love

Napping with Daddy

Meeting Nyanya...


...and Babu!

First time in the Chicco front-pack. This photo was taken in front of the Cruz Alta (High Cross) on the grounds of the Pena Palace in Sintra.

One month old!

Top Ten: Uses for the Bidet (Besides the Obvious)

2011-10-06T10:05:00.000-04:00

Time to get this post out of the draft folder...

A common feature of many bathrooms in European homes is the bidet. The bathroom in our apartment has one, and while at first I saw it as a waste of precious space, I have discovered during our time living in Lisbon, that it is actually a very useful bathroom fixture! If you don't plan on using your bidet for its intended purpose, here's a list of top ten alternate uses:

Bath toy storage -- This has been the main function of our bidet. It keeps the boys' bath toys from cluttering up our tiny bathtub/shower.
Kiddie-height sink -- I never did this, but I heard of one family who put a bar of soap on the back of the bidet, and that was where their littles washed their hands. It kept them from having to climb up on a stool to reach the actual bathroom sink. Genius!
Step-stool -- Alternatively, a child could use the bidet as a step-stool to reach the bathroom sink, which is what Stephen is doing in the picture below.
Baby bathtub -- Our language teacher told us that she knows some people who have used the bidet to bathe their small babies. I haven't actually done this, since our kitchen sink is pretty large, and bathing Benjamin there keeps me from having to kneel down or bend over. But it could work.
Doll bathtub -- If I had little girls, I'm sure that they would find the bidet the perfect place for giving their baby-dolls a bath! You could also use it as a water table.
Receptacle for sandy shoes or swimsuits after a day at the beach -- I just throw our sandy things in the bidet and rinse them out later after everyone has had a shower.
Overflow laundry hamper -- Now that there are five of us in this family, our laundry basket fills up rather quickly. The bidet works well to hold overflow dirty laundry, keeping it from piling up on the floor.
Stand-in bucket -- For soaking stained clothing, or even for mopping the floor, the bidet is just the right height to function as a bucket.
Counter-space -- Our bathroom doesn't have a counter, so flat surfaces to set things on are in short supply. Rather than putting my clean clothes on the (sometimes) wet, dirty bathroom floor while I take a shower, I just put them in the bidet.
Foot bath -- Again, I have never used it this way, but I was sorely tempted during the final weeks of my pregnancy to use the bidet as a place to soak my swollen and aching feet.

And there you have it. Who knew this strange device had so many wonderful uses?

And Three-peat Makes Five!

2011-09-03T13:45:00.000-04:00

Many of you already heard the announcement on Facebook, but Baby Three-peat was born last Saturday, August 27th, in Lisbon, Portugal. He arrived at 12:40 p.m., weighing in at 3420 grams (about 7.5 pounds) and measuring 50 cm. long (about 20 inches). And yes, the little guy does have a real name, which we now proudly announce to the world: Benjamin Levi Campbell.

It's hard for me to believe that little Benjamin is already a week old. I have been meaning to sit down and post some pictures ever since I got home from the hospital, but what with two other little ones to take care of, and the running around we've been doing to get the paperwork started on Benjamin's travel documents, it's been hard to find the time. And when I do have a few minutes (or a few hours) of peace and quiet, it's much more tempting to snuggle my sleeping baby or take a nap myself! Rusty has been doing a great job helping me out around the house and playing Mr. Mom with the older two. And we have had help from our neighbor, Ana, as well. So, we are surviving. It will take some time to settle into our new "normal" as a family of five, but so far, things are going better than I expected. The boys are absolutely thrilled with their new brother, smothering him with kisses and always begging for a turn to hold him. I worried that Stephen, especially, would be jealous of the new baby, but he seemed to accept Benjamin as part of our family from the beginning and is always the first to run and tell me when he hears him crying.

I am working on writing down the details of Benjamin's birth while they are still fresh in my mind. I have now given birth to three babies on three different continents, and each one was a unique experience! I wouldn't say that this was my easiest birth, although it was short (only about 5 hours of active labor), but it's definitely been my easiest recovery. Aside from the normal tiredness and soreness, I feel pretty great -- none of the utter exhaustion I had after my prodromal labor with Alex or the debilitating back pain that lasted for almost two weeks after Stephen was born.

So, more on the whole "giving birth in Portugal" experience later. For now, enjoy some pictures of the first week with our newest blessing:

Outside the Santa Maria hospital, just before being admitted.

One of the first pictures we have of little Benjamin -- he was about 5 hours old (it's a long story).

Our first "family of five" photo!


We even had visitors in the hospital (besides Rusty and the boys)! Celestina from church and her two daughters, Amanda and Noémia, stopped by after church on Sunday.

Leaving the hospital on Monday afternoon

Coming home


We have had a steady stream of visitors since arriving home -- our neighbor, Ana (shown here), her friend, Bella, and the Neves family from church.

Big brother lovin's

A good dream

First bath at home -- he wasn't too happy with me, but I swear I was more gentle than that dang nurse at the hospital!

More pictures on Facebook!

Cha de Bebé (Baby Tea, aka Baby Shower)

2011-08-26T19:02:00.005-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, the lovely ladies at the Lisbon church threw a shower for me and Baby Three-peat. We really didn't need much in the way of baby items -- thanks to hand-me-downs from teammates, a friend in the States, and my sister, we have all the baby gear and more than enough clothes for this little one. So, although we're unable to reuse all of our own baby things since they're buried in a storage unit in Nashville, we are well-equipped for at least the first few months of life with this new one. Still, I was touched by the desire of the women of the church to celebrate a new life by giving gifts and offering blessings. Most people brought diapers, wipes, baby bath gel, and other consumable-type items. So, now we are well-stocked in that department as well, and I won't have to use my cloth diapers for at least the first few weeks, which will make life a little easier in the beginning!

They always start off the baby showers with a short devotional. Diana led the devo, using Psalm 121 (reprinted below in its entirety) as her text. It's always been one of my favorite Psalms (how did she know?), but it seems especially applicable at this time in my life -- getting ready to welcome a third little one to our family, wondering how I'm going to juggle it all, looking ahead to several more months of transition and unsettledness...

Psalm 121 ~
¹ I lift up my eyes to the hills—
   where does my help come from?
² My help comes from the LORD,
   the Maker of heaven and earth. ³ He will not let your foot slip—
   he who watches over you will not slumber;
⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
   will neither slumber nor sleep.
⁵ The LORD watches over you—
   the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,
   nor the moon by night.
⁷ The LORD will keep you from all harm—
   he will watch over your life;
⁸ the LORD will watch over your coming and going
   both now and forevermore.

Diana then invited the other ladies to chime in with their own words of blessing, advice, or encouragement. And then it was time for presents! They usually play a game where the mama-to-be has to guess the giver and sometimes what is inside before she opens it. If she guesses wrong, she gets her face (and sometimes her belly -- lucky me, I was wearing a dress!) painted with make-up. At first, they were disappointed because no one remembered to bring any make-up, but then one of the young ladies dug around in her purse and pulled out a tube of the brightest, reddest lipstick I think I've ever seen! So, I was not to be spared that embarrassment!

After all the presents had been opened, it was time for refreshments. I had prepared (with the help of our Portuguese teacher) a few words of thanks to say to all the ladies. I practiced it a couple of times at home just so I was comfortable with the pronunciation, and I thought I would be fine. However, I was not prepared to become so emotional when I started talking. I barely got through my little speech with all my blubbering. Dang pregnancy hormones! After I was finally done, they all practically piled on me with hugs and encouragement! Feeling the love and support of family in Jesus is truly a wonderful, beautiful thing!

Here are a few pictures from the afternoon:

Just before opening presents -- thanks to Angelina for loaning me this super-cute and amazingly comfortable maternity dress. I want to live in it for the rest of my pregnancy!

Inês painting my face

All finished!

A few of the presents, and some of the party favors.

Group photo

Top Ten: Our Summer So Far

2011-08-23T18:55:00.001-04:00

We've been having a fun summer around here. Besides trying to beat the heat (thankfully, there have not been many hot and humid days -- nothing like the heat wave of last summer), and waiting for Baby Three-peat to make his grand entrance, here's some of what we've been up to:

Alex had his end-of-the-school-year party at the beginning of July. He's still going to school every day, at least until the end of the month, but basically, it is just play-time and social time now -- no formal instruction going on.

Alex with Stephen and one of his favorite school friends.

We went to the Snail Festival in Loures. Stephen chowed down on the snail curry, and Rusty decided he wanted to try the large, grilled snails that come with a garlic butter dipping sauce. Alex was less than impressed and said he liked the smaller snails better. I would have to agree. The larger the snail, the harder it is to ignore what you're actually putting in your mouth!

We took a family camping trip at the end of July. With the new baby coming, it was our last time to travel as a family for awhile. We went to Ericeira on the coast. The boys had a ball, of course, but Rusty and I were joking on the way home how it was probably one of our worst camping trips ever. It was too windy for a campfire, so that meant no s'mores, which was a bummer. Our little campstove (a recent purchase) didn't work as well as we were hoping it would and took forever to cook our food. We didn't have any of our sleeping pads here in Portugal, so that meant just sleeping bags on the ground, which was not the most comfortable thing. Thank goodness our teacher loaned us her little camp cot, which I laid claim to as the 8-months pregnant mama. It saved my back and probably my sanity as well! I still had to get up 15 times a night to traipse down to the bathroom to pee, though. I don't know what I was thinking when I agreed to a camping trip in my third trimester. At least it didn't rain.

After our first night of camping, we packed a picnic lunch and took the boys to the craft village in Sobreiro. Read more about the village in this post (scroll to the very end). They enjoyed exploring all its nooks and crannies and playing on the playground.

After our second night of camping, we drove back to Lisbon along the coast. We saw some amazing views, like this one at Azenhas do Mar:

Note the ocean-water swimming pool at the base of the cliff.

And we found a beautiful beach where we spent most of the afternoon digging in the sand and playing in the waves:

We also visited Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in all of Europe, and took the obligatory picture there. That was about all we did -- despite the blue sky and sunshine in the picture, it was very cold with the wind whipping around the cape:

Earlier this summer, Alex learned to ride his bike without training wheels! He is very proud of his new talent and eager to practice every chance he gets. The other night, we took the kids to the city park where there is a large plaza and some nice walking trails. Alex rode his bike, and Stephen rode his little train.

About 20 minutes after I snapped this pic, Alex managed to ride his bike into the canal / fountain around the edge of the plaza!

Stephen sporting his new buzz haircut!

Pregnancy Updates

2011-08-06T17:37:00.001-04:00

It's been awhile since I posted an update about the pregnancy and upcoming birth of the newest member of our family, "Baby Three-peat." And, seeing as my official due-date (Aug. 31st) is less than one month away, I'm running out of time to blog about it. Alex and Stephen both came early, so I'm hoping for an August, rather than a September birthday, simply because I don't want to be pregnant in the summer heat any longer than necessary. Ha -- now watch me go overdue with this one!

First, a couple of recent belly shots:

25 weeks

Almost 35 weeks

Rusty's idea of funny

Umm, yeah... I'm huge. And awkward. And uncomfortable. I feel like I'm about to burst open. I just can't seem to get comfortable at night, and I wake up every morning with a back-ache. My feet are starting to swell -- one of the fun side-effects of a summer pregnancy, I guess. (I never dealt with much swelling with either Alex or Stephen, both winter babies.) The baby is riding so low in my pelvis that I swear he's squashed my bladder completely flat. Or maybe it's because he's been using it as a springboard for all his acrobatics -- he sure is an active little guy, even at this point in the pregnancy when he surely must be running out of room in there!

With our language teacher on her summer vacation for the past two weeks, baby preparations have been kicked into high gear. I have been washing, drying, and organizing clothes, cleaning up some of the larger items that were handed down to us, like the carseat and bouncy chair, and finishing up the last of my freezer cooking. My little freezer is now stocked with over 10 meals, plus some things like chicken nuggets and individual taco pies for lunches -- hopefully, they will make meal-times in the first couple of weeks after Three-peat's arrival a little easier on all of us. I'm trying to be prepared for the fact that I won't have my mom around to help out right in the beginning, like I did with both Alex and Stephen.

I had another doctor's appointment last week -- my first at the actual hospital where the baby will be born. Up until now, I've been going to the local Health Center in our city for my check-ups, but after 35 weeks, they transfer your case to the hospital where you will deliver. The hospital seems fine... it's huge and seems kind of "institutional," but everyone was very kind and friendly. And all the medical staff, from the doctor to the lab technician, spoke English! The doctor, who at first I thought was the nurse, partly because we saw her first (usually, you see the nurse first and then the doctor, just like in the States), and partly because she was so young, let me struggle with my Portuguese for about 5 minutes before she said, "We can speak in English if you like." I'm sure we could have managed with my Portuguese, but it was so much more comfortable to speak in English, and it really helped set my mind at ease to know that communication won't be the problem I thought it might be. Although I can handle most daily situations in Portuguese now, I'm not sure how much of it I will retain at the height of labor!

Then, I went to see the nurse, and she was also great. She seemed a lot more harried than the doctor, but she took the time to explain some things to me about hospital procedures and gave me a list of things I need to bring with me to the hospital. Because we are using a public hospital, a lot of the things that they supply you with at hospitals in the States, and probably at the private hospitals here, are not provided. For example, I have to bring all my own clothes for me and the baby (no standard-issue hospital gowns, not that I'm complaining), diapers, wipes, towels, etc. I went home and got started on gathering the things on the list and packing my bag.

So, I'm feeling a lot better about things, especially now that I've actually been to the hospital and met some of the staff. There's no guarantee that the doctor I saw last week will be the one who delivers Three-peat, though -- it could very well be someone I've never seen before! And I have yet to see the actual maternity ward. Another thing the nurse did was schedule my hospital tour. But because it's August and the hospital is operating at half-staff for most of the month because everyone is taking their summer holidays, they couldn't get me in until Aug. 24th. Incidentally, they also couldn't get me in for another prenatal check-up until Aug. 23rd. It's entirely possible I'll go into labor before then, so my next trip to the hospital could be to actually have the baby!

If this were my first baby, I think I would be freaking out about all the unknowns. But I've done this twice before... I've had a healthy and uncomplicated pregnancy so far... and I'm confident the doctors and nurses know what they are doing and that I'll be in good hands. So, I'm trying not to worry too much. Someone asked me awhile ago if I felt like we made the right decision to stay in Portugal to have this baby. And the answer is -- yes. In the beginning, we thought seriously about trying to push on to Angola with the team and just have the baby there. I told Rusty I thought if we could get there by mid-June, it would be doable, we would have enough time to figure things out. In the end, after a lot of prayer and discussion with several people, we decided to stay here. Of course, what we didn't know at the time was that the rest of our team wouldn't be able to leave for Angola until almost mid-July because of hang-ups with the visa process. So, looking back, I feel like we made the best decision. And there have been some other benefits -- such as more time to focus on language study.

More ramblings and reflections about this pregnancy in a few days...

Anniversary Trip to the Algarve

2011-08-03T11:43:00.003-04:00

At the end of May, Rusty and I were able to spend two nights in the Algarve (southern coastal region of Portugal) in celebration of our 12th anniversary -- one last trip for just the two of us before the new baby arrives. Thanks to the Meyer family and the Reese family, who each took a night keeping our boys while we were gone!

We headed out of Lisbon around 11:00 a.m. and drove south across the Rio Tejo to the Parque Natural da Arrábida, between Sesimbra and Setúbal. We had lunch at a restaurant right on the water (literally!) and overlooking the bay. Then, after fighting beach traffic for almost two hours, we finally made it to Setúbal and the expressway and headed south to the Algarve.

Waiting for our lunch

Hilltop view overlooking our restaurant and the bay

We stayed in a lovely, quiet bed-and-breakfast on a small family farm near the town of Rogil on the southwestern coast, within walking distance of a gorgeous clifftop view of the ocean:

The first night, we had requested to have our hosts prepare dinner for us, and we were so glad we did, partially because we arrived pretty late and were tired, but also because it was a truly wonderful meal, probably one of the best and most authentic Portuguese meals we have ever had. Multiple courses, including freshly grilled fish and regional specialties, served to us in their dining room. The family ate in the kitchen, which surprised us at first, but we ended up really enjoying the peace and quiet and uninterrupted conversation.

The next morning, after breakfast, we went exploring! We drove all the way down to the southwestern-most point in all of Europe, the Cabo de São Vincente, stopping to admire the views of the coast and even take a few short beach walks along the way:

After lunch in the town of Sagres, we found a nice beach and spent the afternoon soaking in the sun and watching the waves. We had dinner that night at a beach-front restaurant, and the sunset was spectacular:

After breakfast the next day, we headed to the beach again for a couple of hours. Then, after lunch, it was time to head back to Lisbon. We had a wonderful time -- it was the perfect blend of relaxation and sight-seeing. And the Algarve truly is as beautiful as everyone says it is -- just don't go there in August with everyone else in Europe!

12 years!

Adeus, Angola Team!

2011-08-01T11:23:00.000-04:00

Despite my best intentions, I just can't seem to get back on the blogging bandwagon and stay there. I thought after our team left for Angola and life slowed down a bit for us, I would have time to get caught up on several projects, blogging being one of them. But, here it is, 3+ weeks after they left, and I still haven't posted a single entry.

So, yes... we said goodbye to our teammates on July 8th and sent them on their way to Angola. We were excited for them, that this long-awaited day had finally arrived. At the same time, it is always hard to be the ones "left behind." Following their adventures from afar via email, Facebook, and the occasional Skype call, our lives seem almost normal and boring by comparison. Our schedule is suddenly lighter, and it's a lot quieter around here! It's strange to think that they aren't just a phone call away anymore.

I thought it would be fun to recap the last several months with some snapshots of some of our team events. These will go back to mid-February when we returned to Portugal from the States. First, some people pictures:

Me, Teague, and Katie at the church Valentine's Day Dinner

Rusty and the Reeses, soaking in the sun.

Stephen loves his Auntie Jordan!

All dressed up for church, waiting for the subway.

Stephen and Biruk, sharing a seat on the bus.

And now, some events:

In March, we held our first ever Angola Team Track and Field Day. Events included relay races, a game of kickball, and tug-of-war contests, followed by a picnic lunch.

Helping the dads and kids build a pyramid together

In April, we hosted our second Passover Seder at our house. This year, the entire team was able to join us, except for Nathan, who happened to be the U.S. at the time.

Ready to begin the service.

One of the things we have really enjoyed doing as a team is celebrating the holidays together and creating some of our own unique traditions. This year, we had our first Easter Party. The kids did an Easter craft, and hunted for Easter eggs on the lawn at the Bible Institute (where the Meyers and Jordan lived). We followed all that up with a yummy lunch of brisket, made by Robert.

Showing off their Easter crafts

In May, the Meyers hosted an American-style barbeque and invited all the friends they had made while living in Portugal. The rest of the team helped out by bringing American desserts like brownies, peach cobbler, and chocolate chip cookies.

The grill-master

After their visas were finally approved, life was a whirlwind of activity for a few weeks. There were travel and logistical arrangements to make, packing to do, and many goodbyes and thank-yous to be said:

One of the people we especially wanted to thank was our language teacher, Eunice. We decided to have the kids do a group craft project for her. One of the things they know her for is always having chupa-chupas (suckers) on hand to give to them when they visit the school. So, we had them paint a box that she could keep her chupa-chupas in, and we put a picture of all the kids on the top, glassed-in part of the box.

Hard at work, painting the box

The picture we took to put in the top of the box. If you look closely, you can see that all the kids have a chupa-chupa -- yes, even little Sophia!

Goodbye lunch with Eunice

On their last Sunday at the Lisbon Church, the team provided breakfast during the fellowship time between class and the service. At the end of the service, the church did a special goodbye for the team. The children all sang a song, and then some of the leaders of the church prayed over them.

Apparently, Alex thinks he is going to Angola with everyone else. Too bad he doesn't have a visa yet!

Kevin and Angelina Mullins hosted our Fourth of July get-together this year. The Mullins are an American couple who are in Portugal to do church planting and have been attending the Lisbon church for the past few months while they learn Portuguese. We had a cook-out and a devo, and Robert treated all of us to a truly hilarious performance of "The Star Spangled Banner." We even had sparklers for the kids (but we forgot to actually get them out and use them)!

Praise time

My flag cake -- it turned out super cute, and yummy too!

On the day of their departure, we went to the airport to say goodbye. There were a few tears, and a funny moment when Stephen started chasing after everyone as they were walking to the security check-point, yelling "I want to go to Angola, too! I want to go to Angola, too!" But for the most part, we were full of joy and excitement to finally send them on their way, after so many months of planning, waiting, and praying:

Stephen giving Aunt Teague a ride on the luggage cart

Goodbye hugs

"Safe travels..."

And finally, our most recent team photo:

July 5, 2011

Celebrating our teammates' visa success

Wedding Gift Idea: A Year of Monthly Date Nights

2011-07-03T03:53:00.000-04:00

One year ago, my brother Matt married the lovely Miss Janille Wood. About a week and a half later, at our family reunion in Hot Springs, Arkansas, we gave the new couple our family's wedding gift to them, A Year of Monthly Date Nights! Now that Matt and Janille have been married for a year and have opened and (hopefully) used all their monthly date night packages, I can share more details about this gift -- you know, just in case anyone out there is looking for creative and meaningful wedding gift ideas!

Basically, this gift was a take-off of the "date-night-in-a-box" idea, but instead of giving the couple just one Date Night, we decided to give them 12, one for each month of their first year of marriage. This is a great gift for a young couple, just starting out, both still in school, who might not be able to afford expensive dates on top of their bills and other expenses. It also encourages the habit of continuing to "date" your spouse after the wedding, which is so important to maintaining a healthy relationship (but so much harder to do when careers and families are growing)!

Rusty was the creative genius behind this gift idea. Then, together, we came up with the 12 monthly "themes," and we tried to keep them seasonal as much as possible. For example, we assigned the "outdoorsy" type dates to spring and summer months. The date night for the month of December was assigned a Christmas theme. We came up with some ideas of what should be included in each month's package. When my mom and my sister decided that they wanted to help out with this gift, we just asked them how many months they wanted, and then we assigned them some from our list and gave them ideas of what to include, but basically told them just to stick with the theme and be creative. So, this gift also works well as a "group gift" (and it's certainly more economical if you do it that way).

Matt and Janille received two large reusable Walmart shopping bags (you could also use a laundry basket, Rubbermaid tub, or any other large container) containing 12 individually-wrapped packages, each labeled with a month of the year. They were instructed to open one package per month, beginning in August, the month after their wedding. Here are the 12 themes we used, and some examples of things you could include in each package. You could certainly alter this by adding and subtracting themes to fit the tastes and personalities of the couple.

Movie In -- a DVD, microwave popcorn or other snacks, packets of hot chocolate
Dinner Out -- gift certificate to one of their favorite restaurants
Dinner In -- a cookbook like this one, elegant tablecloth or placemats, candles and candlestick holders
Picnic -- a picnic blanket, a picnic basket, a book of poetry like this one for reading aloud, gift certificates to Subway or other sandwich shop
Disc Golf -- disc golf discs, print-out of locations of disc golf courses in their area
Hiking -- sunscreen, insect repellent, stainless steel water bottles, trail mix, a hiking book like this one
Movie Out -- gift certificate to a movie theater
S'mores / Camping -- fixin's for s'mores (marshmallows, graham crackers, chocolate), barbeque skewers, fire starters, camping gear (If the couple lives in a home with a fireplace, you could treat this like a "cozy up in front of a crackling fire night," or you could do an outdoor camping package. Depending on what they already have, this could include anything from a cozy two-man tent to a campstove and dishes to a nice cast-iron dutch oven with a cookbook -- lots of possibilities here!)
Game Night -- board game (or could be a card game or even a game for a Wii, Nintendo, or X-box if the couple has one of these and enjoys playing together)
Spa Night -- romantic candles, music, bubble bath, massage oil, etc.
Christmas -- Christmas decorations or basic ornament set (a young couple just starting out is not likely to have much), a book like this one, a CD of Christmas music (Basically, the idea behind December's date night is to encourage them to begin thinking about creating their own holiday traditions -- whether that's baking cookies together or making their own Christmas cards or ornaments for the tree or reading a special story together. So this could go in a hundred different directions based on the couples tastes and preferences. There are lots of awesome Christmas idea books out there!)
1st Anniversary -- This will be the last package they will open, and the idea is to encourage them to take some time to reflect back on their first year together and create an "anniversary tradition," whether that's taking a special trip somewhere or buying a gift together or just watching their wedding video and looking through their pictures. We included this keepsake book in our package. (Rusty's mom gave us one of these for our wedding years ago, and it has become one of our favorite memory books. It has a space for a picture each year as well as a place to record where you lived, and any memorable moments. We also write down where and how we celebrated our anniversary that year and the gifts we gave each other.)

And there you have it... a Year of Monthly Date Nights. It's the gift that just keeps on giving!

Check it Out!

2011-06-17T08:23:00.000-04:00

I'm blogging over at the Angola Team's website today about our recent presentation to a church in the Lisbon area about our plans for Angola. Click here to read all about it. It was my first time to speak publicly in Portuguese, but thanks to a lot of preparation and practice, I was able to get through it without too much difficulty.

Then, while you're over there, stick around for awhile and check out the website... read an article or two... and sign up to receive our e-updates if you haven't already.

And, just in case you haven't heard the news via Facebook, Twitter, or email, our teammates all received word that their Angolan visas were approved last week! Well, all except for Robert... no one is quite sure what is going on with his, and we are all praying hard that he receives it soon so he can travel to Angola with his family. Please join us in praising God for this wonderful news and in our continuing prayers for Robert's visa.

On Our Own

2011-06-13T19:43:00.000-04:00

I mentioned in my last post that we have a car now. It's just a loaner from some friends who are on furlough for a few months, although we are looking to purchase another car around the time they return. Having a car has been a great blessing to us, first of all because it drastically cuts down on the amount of time that we spend getting from point A to point B. For example, it used to take Rusty or me the better part of an hour to go pick Alex up from school and bring him home each day -- 15-minute bus ride, followed by a 10-minute walk to the school, a 10-minute walk back to the bus stop, and then another 15-minute bus ride home. We could almost walk there and back in that same amount of time, except that we would be walking up a giant hill. Now that we have a car, we can literally get there and back in under 20 minutes.

A couple more examples: getting to church from our apartment used to take at least 45 minutes via bus, metro, and walking, and that was if we timed all of our connections just right and didn't spend too long waiting for a bus. Now, we can get there on a Sunday morning in about 20 minutes. And we can get to the closest beaches in about 30 minutes, whereas the same journey would take about 90 minutes via bus, metro, and train. Obviously, when traffic is heavy, things take longer. Still, though, I am amazed at how much closer everything seems now that we can get to it by car. Riding public transportation can really skew your perspective when it comes to distances between locations -- at least it did for me. Of course, there are some definite advantages to public transportation, and I am certainly thankful that Europe has such an efficient and reasonably-priced public transportation infrastructure. It is entirely possible to live without your own vehicle here -- maybe not as convenient, but certainly possible. As I get bigger and more uncomfortable with this pregnancy, though, I am also thankful that I am not having to deal with maneuvering my way on and off of crowded buses or metros, or running to catch them!

Another thing that having our own car has done is really opened up our possibilities for exploration further afield. We noticed this feeling in Japan as well, once we purchased our van after living there for 6 months with nothing but bikes for transportation. There is a definite sense of freedom that having your own set of wheels brings. You feel like you can go anywhere! In the last couple of months, we have taken advantage of several opportunities to get out and see some things outside of Lisbon that are more difficult to access via public transportation:

At the beginning of April we visited the little town of Óbidos. We went for the Chocolate Festival, which, although it sounds really cool, was actually pretty lame and certainly not worth the 7 euro per person entrance fee we paid. But the town itself is very quaint and cute, and I would love to go back and spend more time there when it isn't packed with festival-goers.

Alex posing in front of one of the festival decorations

Towards the end of April, we visited Mafra and toured the Palácio de Mafra (Mafra Palace), which is actually a massive combination palace-monastery, so big it would be very easy to get lost in, without all the signs marking your route! Here are a few of the more impressive highlights:

The main facade and entrance into the church

This little guy was our guide for the day! He had so much fun running up and down the long corridors.

Inside the church

The hospital, where the monks cared for the sick. On either side of the corridor, you can see the little curtained cells for the patients.

The trophy room... in addition to all the trophies on the walls, the furniture and the candelabra are all made from antlers!

Saved the best for last... this was definitely the highlight of the whole tour, the library. It is home to some 40,000 15th to 18th century leather-bound books. Stunning! It reminded me of the library in "Beauty and the Beast."

After our tour, we ate our picnic lunch and let Stephen play for a bit at the nearby craft village in the town of Sobreiro. It was a combination of museum and playground. There were displays of traditional Portuguese shops, miniature villages with windmills, waterwheels, and trains, and of course, lots of places to climb, explore, and play. Stephen really enjoyed himself, and we decided we'd like to come back when we can bring Alex (he was in school on the day we went).

One of the miniature villages... it even had a river with real water that flowed through the village and turned a waterwheel.

Recent Field Trips: Sintra's Pena Palace

2011-06-08T11:11:00.000-04:00

For May's field trip, we made another trip to Sintra, a hop, skip, and a jump away from Lisbon. We have been to Sintra several times now, but there is so much to see there that each time, so far, we manage to see or do something new. This time, we toured the Palácio de Pena (Pena Palace). We had a picnic lunch on the grounds and then enjoyed wandering around for a little while. There are many species of exotic trees and plants there, including a few California redwoods! Then, because we have a car now (just a loaner from some friends who are on furlough for the next several months), Rusty and I drove out to see the Convento dos Capuchos, also known as the Cork Convent. We ended our day with a visit to a café in Sintra to load up on some of the local pastries, queijadas and travesseiras. Yum!

This is the view of the palace as you are walking up to the entrance. It is pretty impressive.

They don't allow pictures of the inside of the palace, but most of the furnishings are original and equally as impressive. Here are a couple more shots of the outside:

Whose belly is bigger?

Our group, posing on a Western red cedar. This is all one tree -- the lower branches form a J shape and put roots down into the soil where they touch the ground.

Inside the Convent dos Capuchos. Somehow, I managed to squeeze my pregnant bod inside this tiny monk's cell. The doors are cut small, supposedly so the occupant had to bow in humility to enter!

Recent Field Trips: Frigate and Cristo Rei

2011-06-04T10:49:00.001-04:00

On April 1st (my birthday), we took a field trip to the other side of the Rio Tejo to see the Dom Fernando II e Glória, an old frigate and Portugal's last sailing warship. It is currently being restored to its original condition as a museum ship. After touring the frigate, we visited the Cristo Rei statue, nearby. We had a picnic lunch in the statue's shadow and then rode the elevator to the top for fantastic views of the river and the city of Lisbon on the other side.

Alex and Eliana in one of the ship's lifeboats

Our group, posing on the gangway

Alex, pretending he is a cook in the ship's galley

Helping Eliana sign her name in the guestbook

Attempt at a cute cannon shot ("The sun's in my eyes, Mom!")

Eliana trying to ring the ship's bell. She was just barely too short to make it work, so Daddy had to help her.

The Cristo Rei statue from the back...

...and the front

View of the Rio Tejo and Lisbon on the other side. The bridge is the Ponte 25 de Abril, Lisbon's own "Golden Gate Bridge."

Happy birthday to me! On the way home, we stopped in Belém for yummy pasteis de Belém and coffee. These things are to die for, especially fresh out of the oven when the custard filling is still warm and the pastry is golden and flaky!

Recent Field Trips: Lisbon's Funiculars

2011-06-02T10:48:00.000-04:00

There's been a lot going on around here lately. I guess that's why I haven't done much blogging. I've been going through our pictures, trying to organize them somewhat, and thought it would be fun to share some photos of some of our recent sight-seeing. First off, I'll share about the last several field trips we've taken with Eunice. In February, we toured Lisbon's elevadores, or lifts. Three of the four are old funiculars (see a picture of one here). The fourth, the Elevador de Santa Justa, is Lisbon's only true vertical lift. We can ride all of them free with our bus passes. Here are a few pictures:

One of the funiculars

Stephen and me inside the car

Fabulous view from one of Lisbon's miradouros (viewpoints)

Alex -- Único!

2011-05-14T17:55:00.000-04:00

Every year on Easter, the Lisbon church does a little something special for all the kids. This year, they put together a slideshow of all the children in the Sunday School program. The babies (0-3 years) were all grouped together, 4 or 5 to a slide. But for the older kids, each one had their own slide with a picture as well as some words written about them by their teachers. They flashed the slides up and then had each kid come up to receive a special present. This was Alex's slide. Imagine, if you can, the entire church erupting in laughter when this came up on the screen, Rusty and me included! (English translation follows.)

Alex: Unique! Excited, but very affectionate and tender. He likes to question, to play, puzzles, and to sing. His development in Christian education is fantastic, and his example has been each time better. He has a heart bigger than him. God bless you and guide you to do great works. May Jesus always live in your little heart.

Three-peat: Sneak Peak

2011-04-21T10:44:00.003-04:00

So, I finally managed to locate my ultrasound pictures, from when we were in the States, and got them scanned and saved to our computer. So, as promised, here they are. (Alright, I know that probably no one but my mother cares about seeing a picture of the inside of my uterus, but since this blog also functions as my own personal online scrapbook, I'm putting them up anyway. I posted ultrasound pics when I was pregnant with Alex and Stephen; I wouldn't want little Three-peat to feel left out!)

When we got back to the States in January, one of the first things I did was send Rusty out to buy a home pregnancy test. At that point, I was about 99% sure I was pregnant, but you can't just walk into a store in Portugal and buy a pregnancy test. You have to go to the pharmacy and ask for one at the counter as if it's a pack of cigarettes! So, I decided just to wait until we went back. I think I was also in denial that I was actually pregnant. Maybe if I don't take the test, I won't really be pregnant. Okay, so I was also irrational. Keep in mind that this pregnancy was unplanned... we hadn't even decided if we were going to try to have another baby ever, and certainly not now with our move to Angola looming ever closer.

Sure enough, the test was positive, so I made an appointment to see my OB while we were in Michigan. I was exactly seven weeks pregnant when I went in, so I wasn't expecting to get an ultrasound, as they typically don't do one that early on unless there is some sort of problem. But after she examined me, she said, "Are you sure about your dates? Because your uterus seems to be pretty large for being only seven weeks pregnant." At which point I literally started hyperventilating, thinking to myself Oh, my gosh, the only thing worse than being pregnant right now, would be being pregnant with twins. I might have a nervous breakdown right here in her office and the nice men in white coats will come to take me away to the nuthouse...

So, she sends me for an ultrasound... tech says everything looks great... I hear the heartbeat... I tell her to make extra sure there's only one baby in there... she says yes, just one... I say, "Are you sure? Because twins run in both our families..." she says "Yes, absolutely, there's only one." Whew. "The twin scare that wasn't," that's what I like to call it. Suddenly, having just one baby seems doable after all.

Seven weeks pregnant.

I had a second ultrasound about 4 weeks later. It's amazing the changes that occur in a few short weeks during that first trimester. From being a little blob to being practically fully formed and taking on the shape of a baby:

Eleven weeks pregnant.

In a few weeks, we'll have another ultrasound, and we'll hopefully know if we're having a boy or a girl. Will Three-peat be The Little Princess, or the Third Musketeer? Stay tuned...

Look Who's Two!

2011-04-17T10:42:00.000-04:00

At the beginning of April, we celebrated Stephen's second birthday. Really? He's two? Already? It seems like just yesterday that we were driving to the hospital in the middle of an April snowstorm. And now that tiny, helpless baby, born less than 10 minutes after we checked in, is a sweet little boy with a personality all his own. He has brought so much joy to our family these past two years!

So what does it mean to be two? It means that Stephen has graduated from high chair to booster seat at the table. It means he is starting to try to climb out of his crib, so we are considering moving him to a "big boy bed," which may end up just being a mattress on the floor. It also means that potty-training is staring Mommy in the face, and she is trying to work up the gumption to start on that. Potty-training while being pregnant is not much fun.

Lately, Stephen has become so talkative. He's learning new words and phrases every day and constantly amazes me with just how much he understands. He can count to ten in both English and Portuguese, loves to sing songs and read books, and has started saying prayers at the dinner table. There is nothing more precious than hearing your child thank God for "Nyanya and Babu, da airplane spoon, and da baby ducks."

For Stephen's birthday this year, we decided to celebrate by having a picnic supper at the park with the team. The kids played on the playground for awhile, and then we ate -- peanut butter and jelly pancake sandwiches for the kids, chicken salad for the grown-ups. Birthday cake and presents followed. It was a simple but fun party, perfect for a two-year old! Here are a few pictures:

The birthday boy with his daddy!

The kids enjoyed their food on the grass...

...while the adults sat at a nearby table.

Opening presents

The "cupcake cake" birthday cake. It is supposed to look like a soccer ball!

Stephen and Eliana -- pretty close to the same size now!

Enjoying their cupcakes

Signs of the Times

2011-04-07T19:21:00.000-04:00

So, just in case you missed the announcement on Facebook or from us personally, the big news in our family right now is that -- surprise! -- we're pregnant again! "Three-peat," as this baby has been officially nicknamed, is due at the end of August. I am 19 weeks right now, so just about halfway there. We have spent the last couple of weeks trying to get registered with the public health system here in Portugal and after getting a bit of a run-around, finally succeeded. I have my first appointment next month, and hopefully the ultrasound, you know the one where they tell you if you're having a boy or a girl. Not that I'm all that anxious to find out, I just want to be able to have an answer other than, "Ainda, não sei," ("I still don't know.") for the 500 people that ask me at church every Sunday if it's a menino or a menina.

I feel fine for the most part. The nausea has mostly passed, to be replaced by heartburn. I struggled with being very tired all the time in the first few weeks, but I feel like I have a little more energy now. My belly is growing, and as it does, I'm finding it more difficult to sleep comfortably. Since I'm not even halfway through at this point, I feel a little desperate when I contemplate what it's going to be like in the hot, hot summer when I'm as big as a whale. Also, the painful varicose veins in my left leg that emerged when I was pregnant with Stephen are back, along with a bunch of other pregnancy aches and pains that I don't remember feeling this early with either of my other two. Chalk that up to age or this being my third baby, or whatever, but I'm certainly enjoying the whole "pregnancy experience" less this time. I really shouldn't complain, though. In comparison to some, my list of concerns is very small, and I am thankful for (so far) another healthy and uneventful pregnancy.

I have more thoughts to share about all this -- this is one of those things I alluded to when I said a few posts back that I was struggling to work through some things. But I'm tired and I don't feel like my brain is really functioning at the level I want it to be to write that stuff. So, I'll leave you with a few pictures for now. I have ultrasound pictures, too -- I went to see my OB in Michigan three times while we were back in the States, but I still have to dig them out and scan them, and I'm too lazy to do that right now, so it'll have to wait for another post as well.

Our team welcomed us back from the States with a beautiful welcome home banner decorated by all the kids. They also made this one especially for Three-peat. This baby is already loved by so many!

First baby gifts, given to us in the States by Grandma and Grandpa "B." Every one of my babies so far has received one of Grandma "B's" hand-hemmed baby blankets! They are so special to me and to them -- Alex still sleeps with his every night.

I was 15 weeks in this photo. My belly sure popped out a lot quicker with this third pregnancy!

The Big Five

2011-03-30T09:23:00.001-04:00

I can hardly believe it myself, but I am now the mother of a five-year old. Sometimes I look at our Alex with an odd sensation of disbelief. Did he really grow in my womb? Was he ever really a tiny baby? A toddler just learning to walk and talk? I look back at pictures and know he was, and yet I still have difficulty imagining him as anything other than the smart, lively, energetic boy he is today.

Alex had his fifth birthday at the end of February. Once again, we spread out the celebrating across two continents. From Chuck E. Cheese and cake and icecream with his grandparents and cousins in America (see last picture on my previous post), to his school party and team party here in Portugal:

Birthday cupcakes with his class at school

Birthday cake for the team party -- he asked for a Star Wars cake, so I took the easy route and made a chocolate sheet cake and put a few Star Wars toys on top. He thought it was cool, and he loved that he got to keep the toys after we ate the cake!

Five!

Just before opening presents from his friends.

I had intended to make a slideshow of the first five years of Alex's life to show at the team party, but sadly, it was one of those things I just didn't get around to doing before his birthday. I still plan on doing it at some point, but it won't be a "birthday slide show." But I did think it would be fun to take a little walk down memory lane by posting pictures from the first day of each year of Alex's life so far:

Less than 1 day old - Mito, Japan

1 year old - Portland, Oregon

2 years old - Memphis, Tennessee

3 years old - Little Rock, Arkansas (living in Detroit, Michigan at the time)

4 years old - Lisbon, Portugal

5 years old - Lisbon, Portugal

Top Ten: U.S. Trip

2011-03-20T12:58:00.000-04:00

I feel as though some sort of explanation is in order as to my long absence from this blog. Life has been very busy these last months, it's true, but there's more to it than that. I've been struggling to work through some things recently, and I'm unsure how much is appropriate to share in a public forum such as this. This blog is mostly just a "chronicle of days," snapshots of the Campbell family's life, and there's certainly nothing wrong with that. But, like most of us, I would imagine, we usually take pictures only of the good things, the fun things, the things we want to remember. We don't pull out the camera to capture the cluttered house, the defiant children, the pile of dirty dishes in the sink, the embarassing language blunders.

So... how to capture the good as well as the bad, the difficulties as well as the joys... this is what I've been trying to figure out lately. But that will really have to wait for another post. For now, as the title of this post indicates, I need to recap our recent trip back to the United States.

And how to do that in just 10 pictures? Our six weeks there were filled with so many fun memories. We saw both sides of the family, spent some time with Hillsboro (our sponsoring church), visited with many supporters, including the Somerset church in Pennsylvania, and met up with many friends, both new and old. I limited myself to just 10 pictures to highlight our trip, but I'll try to fill in the gaps with a little commentary along the way.

We began by spending a few days in Michigan with my parents (and my sister and her family who happened to be there, too!):

Celebrating Christmas in Michigan with Nyanya and Babu and the cousins... highlights included the obligatory pic in front of the tree, opening presents (my parents gave us a Wii -- yay!) and tearing down and eating the gingerbread house.

Seeing the model train display at the Henry Ford Museum.

Indoor playgrounds galore! Jungle Java in Detroit, the Monkey's Treehouse in Nashville, Playdate PDX in Portland, and of course, McDonald's Playplaces!

Lots of fun in the snow, in both Michigan and in Pennsylvania -- besides helping build this giant snowman, Alex got to go sledding one day with Daddy and Michaela!

From Michigan, we headed south to Nashville, where we spent about a week with the Hillsboro church. A big highlight was the time we got to spend with Hillsboro's new preacher and his family, the Hopes. They have two kids about the same ages as our two boys. We love them already, and we're so glad they are at Hillsboro! We also took a day and drove to Huntsville where we met up with Rick and Marinda Trull, our team coaches, as well as some of Rusty's extended family who live in the area.

From Nashville, we flew out to Portland, OR to spend a few days with Rusty's sister and nephews. Robbie and Johnny are seniors in highschool this year, and they are both starters on the varsity basketball team. We were able to go to one of their games while we were there, which was a lot of fun! We also saw several friends and visited my grandmother (my dad's mom) who lives in Portland.

Cousins ("My big cousins," as Alex calls them!)

From Portland, we flew back to Nashville, and then began a roundabout trip back to Michigan... driving first to Virginia to visit my "oldest friend," Michelle, and her family... then to Pennsylvania to spend some time with our friends Jimmy and Natalie and the Somerset church, also one of our supporters... then finally back to Michigan, stopping along the way to have some down time as a family at the Kalahari Resort in Ohio, home of the largest indoor water park in the U.S!

Stephen liked to float on his back in the giant wave pool while Alex and Daddy had fun on the waterslides!

Back in Michigan, we enjoyed almost two more weeks with my family before we headed back to Portugal.

We took a day and drove to Coldwater to visit my other grandmother (my mom's mom).

There was lots of grandparent time. Stephen liked to use Babu's chest as a ramp for his trains.

Music time with Nyanya... she would play from this book of kids songs she's had forever, and the kids would dance around the living room, playing with noisemakers or pretending to be a choo-choo train, or any number of other things, as the songs dictated. The kids also enjoyed finding the candy hearts that Nyanya would hide around the living room... like an indoor Easter egg hunt.

Celebrating Alex's 5th birthday with his cousins... he didn't actually turn 5 until the end of February after we got back to Portugal, but how often are we going to be able to celebrate with his cousins who live in South America? He wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese, so we did that one evening as part of his present, and then opened presents and had cake and ice-cream at home the next night.

Christmas in Portugal

2011-02-11T10:00:00.000-05:00

This post is long overdue, but with all of our traveling these past few weeks (we have been in the U.S. since the beginning of January, but will be returning to Portugal soon), it has been difficult to find either the time or the motivation to blog. As a way of "catching up," I thought I would post a few snapshots that capture how we celebrated Christmas in Portugal this year.

Interestingly, our family has now celebrated Christmasses on 4 continents! And, although this was not our first Christmas overseas, far from our families, it was our first Christmas abroad since our kids were born. So, we focused on beginning some of our own holiday-related traditions, and of course we tried to make the most of our "European Christmas," since it will likely be our only one!

We kicked off the month of December with a cookie decorating party for all the team kiddos.

Everyone got a big Christmas tree to decorate.

Stephen just wanted to eat his cookie!

We went to the zoo one Sunday after church to see Pai Natal (aka Santa Claus), and Alex had his face painted.

And Biruk and Efesson had their faces painted too!

After spending the afternoon at the zoo, we enjoyed some of the Christmas lights in downtown Lisbon before heading home.

Rossio Square

Every street had some sort of lighted display.

Carousel ride in Rossio Square

Alex had a school Christmas party one Saturday.

And that same day, there was a Christmas party in the evening at the Lisbon Church. Alex's Sunday School class did a reenactment of the birth of Jesus. Alex was one of the wise men.

We had a yummy dinner, and a table full of delectable desserts. In the front is Jesus' birthday cake. It was topped with sparklers that they lit as the grand finale to the evening!

We invited Jordan to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with our family this year. She helped Alex decorate his gingerbread house.

And here is the finished product. Obviously, we let him have a lot of creative license. (By the way, he aquired the big bruise in the middle of his forhead when he walked into a pole on the street because he wasn't watching where he was going.)

Watching "The Polar Express" before bed. Our friend Regina also joined us for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day this year.

Opening stockings on Christmas morning.

Alex got a new raincoat and some rain boots for Christmas this year. He was so excited to wear his new gear to walk to school!

Christmas Dinner with the Reeses, Jordan, Regina, and another friend, Linda. It took some work, and some creative thinking on my husband's part, but we were able to cram all of us into our tiny kitchen around an actual table for a nice sit-down meal of roast lamb, mashed potatoes, spiced peaches, and all the other trimmings!

All in all, a very Merry Christmas!

Top Ten: Arvore de Natal (Christmas Tree)

2010-12-29T17:36:00.001-05:00

Here are a few pictures of our Portuguese Christmas tree:

We put up our tree on Thanksgiving weekend. It cost us 13 euros at Aki, our local "Home Depot" type store. Even if we only use it one year, I figure it was worth it!

The boys enjoyed helping me decorate the tree. Stephen wanted to put all his cars on the branches!

Straw ornaments from IKEA

One of our souvenir ornaments from Lisbon. We made it from a small porcelain trolley car that we bought at a souvenir store downtown and a piece of twine.

Our homemade ornament project this year was ornaments made from metal bottle caps. Rusty and Alex collected metal bottle caps all over Morocco when we went there in October. After we got home, I washed them; then we picked out some of the best ones, Rusty punched holes in the caps, Alex glued the foil stars inside, I attached the twine for hanging, and voila -- bottle cap ornaments for the tree!

We made 16...

... and each one is different!

With some of the leftover bottle caps, I made this garland to go around the bottom branches of the tree.

Rusty's Christmas train is in storage in Nashville, awaiting shipment to Angola in the near future, but Spencer, one of Alex's toy trains was happy to serve as a replacement this year!

The finished tree... and hanging on the wall behind, our stockings, also from IKEA (love that store!).

More to come soon about how we celebrated the holidays in Portugal. Hope your Christmas was merry and bright!

Thanksgiving, 2010

2010-12-15T17:49:00.000-05:00

This year, our team celebrated Thanksgiving all together for the first time. We had a traditional turkey dinner with all the fixin's, hosted by the Meyers. It was a lovely day... feasting... friends... and a time of singing praises to our Father to bring the day to its close.

Enjoy the pictures!

Teague's first turkey! It was dee-licious!

Irene the Turkey was bigger than 4-month old Sophia Reese. She fed our team for 3 meals!

The guests who shared our day with us.

Our team

Of course there was lots of pie! I think there were 12 pies in total, all homemade of course.

Me and the littles, reading the Berenstein Bears Thanksgiving book.

Team Retreat

2010-12-06T18:03:00.000-05:00

In November, our team had its first retreat. We left Lisbon for the weekend and traveled out to the farm where our family stayed one weekend last April. We spent three days together reflecting on how far we've come, looking at where we are now, and dreaming about the future. There was a very cool slide show, created by Teague, which recapped our team's history over the past 8 years, from when the seed for Angolan missions was first planted until now. It was good to look back and see how faithful God has been through the years to bring all of us to this point.

Of course, there was time for fun as well. We spent a gorgeous day playing with our kids and picnicking in a park in Évora, played Settlers of Catan and a special "Angola Team" version of Scattergories, and took a walk around the farm, which ended with a tractor-ride for the kiddos, a special gift from our hosts:

When I think back on the retreat, the chorus to the song, "The Family of God," always pops into my head. Incidentally, we sang this song during our Sunday morning worship time, and I think it recaps beautifully what we did during what I hope will become an annual event for our team:

Sometimes we laugh together, sometimes we cry,
Sometimes we share together heartaches and sighs.
Sometimes we dream together of how it will be
When we all get to heaven, God's family.

The Angola Team, November 2010

How far we've come...

How far we have yet to go.

Top Ten: First Annual Angola Team Halloween Party

2010-11-23T12:02:00.002-05:00

When you celebrate the holidays overseas, you often have to get creative in the way you celebrate them. Certain holidays are uniquely American (like Thanksgiving)... others might be known, but are not as hyped-up or celebrated in the same ways as they are in the United States. Halloween would fit in this category. We decided to have a Halloween party for our kids to give them some of the experiences of dressing in costumes and trick-or-treating. Our family hosted the party this year. We spent most of the week leading up to it getting ready... hunting for pumpkins, decorating our apartment, deciding on activities for the kids, and planning the menu.

Rusty drew the faces on these oranges.

Pumpkin lumiaries... they were so pretty!

We planned several activities for the kids to do during the party. First, we painted pumpkins. Interestingly, large, round, bright orange jack-o-lantern pumpkins are hard to come by in Portugal. We ended up using smaller pumpkins that were either pale orange or speckled green and white. We did manage to find one big round pumpkin which Teague carved during the party so the kids could see what a real jack-o-lantern looked like. Efesson and Biruk had never seen one before!

Alex painted a very colorful pumpkin!

Teague's jack-o-lantern

Stephen was so fascinated with the pumpkin-face and the candle inside.

We played a game where we gave the kids balloons with candy inside, and they had to figure out how to get it out. It provided several minutes of very loud entertainment.

Trying to pop balloons (Stephen just wanted to play with his.)

Then, we decorated Halloween treat buckets (we used old yogurt tubs) and had the kids go trick-or-treating in our apartment. An adult went in each room and closed the door. Once they were ready, the kids went around knocking on the doors and saying "Trick-or-treat." It worked pretty well, and they all went home with full treat-buckets!

Decorating treat buckets

Trick-or-treat!

Surprise! The Tosta Mista Man (Grilled Ham-and-Cheese Sandwich Man) was behind the bathroom door. Rusty came up with this costume all on his own the hour before the party, and the inspiration behind it was the Powdered Toast Man from "Ren and Stimpy."

All the kids in their costumes. From left to right, we have, a gorilla, a fire chief, a train conductor, Winnie the Pooh, and a fire lieutenant. Our littlest participant, Sophia, was an adorable zebra, but she was asleep at the time of the picture.

And that's how we celebrated Halloween in Portugal this year!

There are lots more pictures on Facebook... just look for photos of Rusty or me.

Ten Days in Morocco: The Atlantic Coast

2010-11-17T10:35:00.001-05:00

With this post, I'll wrap up recounting our trip to Morocco. I hope you've enjoyed getting a glimpse of our adventures because I certainly enjoyed writing about them! Truth be told, I probably keep this blog more for myself than anyone... it functions as an online scrapbook of sorts. Really, it's the only scrapbook I have for the last few years, since I'm so behind in my scrapbooking that I fear I'll never catch up. I love to browse back through old posts sometimes, remembering the fun things we did, and seeing how God brought us through the struggles.

We spent our final days in Morocco enjoying some playtime on the beach. The weather was a little on the cool side, but sunny, and the beaches were practically deserted. We stayed in three different towns along the Atlantic Coast. The first, where we stayed for two nights, was the village of Mirleft. We totally lucked out in finding a furnished apartment to rent for less than we would have paid for a hotel room. Even better, the apartment was situated right next to a steep staircase down to the beach and had an amazing view of the ocean from the living room windows. With the windows open at night, we fell asleep to the roar of the surf -- mmm, heavenly!

View from our apartment

The boys enjoyed swimming in the surf...

...and playing in the sand.

We built our first family sandcastle. Or, Rusty and Alex built it while I tried to keep Stephen from destroying their creation!

One afternoon, we drove south a few kilometers to Lgzira Beach, which showcases two dramatic natural stone arches, hollowed out over time by the relentless pounding of the waves. The next three pictures are of Lgzira Beach:

From Mirleft, we drove north along the coastal road to the fishing village of Essaouira. It was a very pretty drive, and there were lots of great views, but probably the most interesting things we saw were goats in trees! Argan trees to be precise. These trees produce a fruit kind of like an olive, which can be pressed and made into oil. Argan oil is becoming a hip alternative to olive oil in restaurants around the world, and the oil can also be used to make soaps and other beauty products. In addition, goats like to eat the leaves of the argan trees and will climb up into their branches in order to do so. I'm not talking about the lowest branches of the trees, either -- we saw goats all the way up at the tip-top of these trees, swaying in the wind while they ate!

Have you ever seen a goat in a tree?

We stayed one night in Essaouira. Although our time there was limited, I felt like we had the quintessential Essaouira experience... we stayed in a riad (traditonal hotel with rooms surrounding a central courtyard) in the medina, watched the sun set from the medina walls, wandered the streets (no cars allowed in the medina) in the evening, sipped fresh-squeezed orange juice for breakfast on our hotel's rooftop terrace overlooking the town and the ocean, shopped in the souqs, climbed the sea bastion tower to look back at the town, and had freshlly grilled fish for lunch at the fish stalls by the harbor. Essaouira was another of the highlights of our trip for me.

Canons along the city wall

Watching the sunset

View from our hotel's roof

Spices for sale

No cars in the medina meant we employed this man to help us get our bags from the car park to our hotel. He let Alex ride in his cart, which Alex thought was super cool!

View of Essaouira from the sea bastion

From Essaouira, we continued the drive north to the little resort community of Oualidia, where we stayed two nights. Oualidia is situated on the shores of a calm lagoon which is separated from the rough waves of the Atlantic by a rocky breakwater. We were able to find another furnished apartment, just like in Mirleft, which was near the beach. The water in the lagoon was relatively warm, and there were no huge waves, so the boys could roam a bit freer, which was nice. We paid an old fisherman to take us around the lagoon on his boat one morning, and in the evening, we walked on the boardwalk before going to dinner and saw the last of the fading sunset sky and the waves crashing agaist the rocks. Rusty and Alex also rode a four-wheeler on the beach one morning! Hey, I guess if you can't ride a camel, a four-wheeler is the next best thing!

Feeling the sand between his toes

Boat ride!

View of the lagoon...

...and just on the other side, the rocky shore of the open sea.

Our four-wheeling four-year-old!

And from Oualidia, it was back to Casablanca to catch our flight home. We spent very little time in Casablanca, but we did drive past the Hassan II mosque, the largest mosque in Morocco and took a few pictures. We decided against the guided tour, which was a little pricey and would have lasted an hour.

The Hassan II mosque

And that wraps up Ten Days in Morocco. Never fear, though... I already have more posts in the works -- including the first annual Angola Team Halloween Party and the first annual Angola Team Retreat. (Lots of firsts for our team right now.) See you soon!

Ten Days in Morocco: The Desert

2010-11-15T09:27:00.000-05:00

I was amazed at how much we were able to pack into our ten days in Morocco and felt like we were able to give ourselves a wide range of experiences while we were there. The only "big" thing we didn't get to do was ride camels on the dunes of the Sahara, and only because we decided we would rather spend more time on the beach. So, our psuedo-desert experiences were the towns of Ait Benhaddou and Ouarzazete.

You've seen Ait Benhaddou before and just didn't realize it -- several films have been shot in this old ksar (fortified city), including "Lawrence of Arabia," "Jesus of Nazareth," "The Mummy," and "Gladiator." It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and has been carefully preserved by Hollywood through the years. In fact, it's been almost too carefully preserved. Most of the town's inhabitants now live in the modern section of town on the other side of the river, so as you walk through the ksar, you feel like you're either in a ghost town or on a movie set. I half expected to turn a corner and meet a camera crew. As you would imagine, Ait Benhaddou is also pretty heavily touristed, and the day we visited was very windy with sand blowing everywhere, so we didn't stay very long, but headed on to Ouarzazete.

Ait Benhaddou

Walking through the ksar...

... all the way to the top for a fantastic view!

Jewelry for sale

Alex in his Berber turban

We stayed the night in Ouarzazete and took the time after we got there to tour the Taourirt Kasbah, which served as a backdrop for several scenes in the original "Star Wars" movie.

Posing on a cannon just inside the entrance to the kasbah

View from one of the windows

The next morning, after breakfast, we began the long drive west to the Atlantic coast. We stopped for lunch at Teliouine, the center for saffron, which is the world's most expensive spice, probably because it is only grown in a very narrow band of land. Most of the dishes at the restaurant we ate at featured saffron. I had a saffron and citrus chicken tajine, which was very tasty.

Camel on the side of the road

Teliouine

Coming soon... the Atlantic coast!

Ten Days in Morocco: The High Atlas Mountains

2010-11-09T15:37:00.004-05:00

From Marrakesh, we headed towards the High Atlas Mountains where we stayed three nights in the village of Tigzah with Mohamed and Carolyn of Homestays Morocco (which, by the way, we highly recommend if your travels ever take you to Morocco). The journey to Tigzah took us the better part of the afternoon -- over the Tizi N'Tchika pass, with some incredible views of the mountains and countryside, through the town of Telouet, and finally to the village of Animeter, where we parked the car. The road to Tigzah is not paved and we had been advised against trying to drive in, so we walked the 5 km up the valley to the village. Or, I should say, Rusty and I walked. Alex got to ride on a donkey, which also carried our bags, and Stephen rode in the Kelty on Rusty's back!

We so enjoyed our time in the mountains, and it was one of the best parts of our trip. Excerpted from my journal on our last morning there:

We have spent the last three nights in the small village of Tigzah, up in the Atlas Mountains. Yesterday, we explored the kasbah in Telouet, which was fascinating in all its faded, crumbling glory. But by far, my favorite part of our time here has been the homestay iteself, experiencing village life in this remote corner of Morocco. It is so quiet and peaceful here, and I like to imagine that not much has changed here in centuries -- where the passage of time is measured only by the seasons, and the days follow the rhythm of the rising and setting of the sun, punctuated periodically by the call to prayer from the village minarets.

The road to the village is not good, so we left our car at a small town on the main road and hiked up. Alex rode on a mule that also carried our bags. As we were walking in, the sun was setting, and the hills caught the last light of day in a way that reminded me of embers in a fire -- they almost glowed, rosy and golden. The road followed the side of the mountain, and below us, a small mountain stream meandered through a valley, green with trees and fields. The rocky, brown hillsides, and the lush valley was a study in stark contrasts. After awhile, we were walking in the dark, and we arrived in Tigzah after nightfall, so our first real look at our surroundings came yesterday morning.

Breathtaking. That's all I can think to say. Little villages clinging to the slopes, looking as though they might have been carved from the rock, spilling down to the valley below in all its verdant beauty, the hills encircling it all in a protective embrace. We were completely surrounded by the rocky hills on all sides in a way that made it seem as though we were cut off from the rest of the world. And in a way, I guess we are. Only one road in and out... one link to the outside world. I was reminded of the little mountain village in "The Last Samurai," how it's hidden from outsiders, a secret well-guarded by the villagers.

I am struck by the simplicity of life in this farming community. I love watching the people going about their daily lives... the shepherds with their flocks, the women toting baskets heaped with fresh vegetables, the men riding their donkeys, the children gathering apples or carrying water. Everyone working, everyone contributing. When I look back on these few days, I think it will be the little things that stand out -- like the brilliance of the stars, the whiff of fresh herbs as we passed the fields, the best, fluffiest cous-cous I have ever tasted, the sound of the wind whipping through the gorge, the feel of the Berber carpets we saw and touched at the carpet shop yesterday. I'll remember how the first day was warm and gentle and sunny, and yesterday was cold and gray and windy. This place is a land of extremes, and it is somehow so beautiful to me. It speaks to my heart in a way that I can't really explain.

I know I'll probably never come back to this place, but I hope that one day, I'll be able to call home a place that has some of these same qualities. I hope I'll be able to cultivate simplicity and peace in my life and my home in the same way that people here seem to.

Mountain village seen on our drive

First time to ride a donkey

The last leg of the journey to Tigzah

Tigzah valley at sunset

View from Mohamed and Carolyn's house

Tigzah valley

Where we stayed

Walking through the village

More village exploring

The three of us trying to ride a donkey together. Stephen wasn't impressed.

Lunch in Telouet with our new friend Nina, also a guest at the homestay.

Inside the Telouet kasbah with our guide

View of Telouet from the kasbah

The Telouet kasbah

A lesson on Berber carpets

Stay tuned for... the desert!

Ten Days in Morocco: Marrakesh

2010-10-30T12:20:00.044-04:00

One of the perks to the missionary life is the opportunity to travel and explore some of this amazing and diverse world that God created. Earlier this month, we had the opportunity to travel to Morocco. This trip was necessary in order to renew our visas (since we are in Portugal on tourist visas, we have to leave the European Union every 90 days). Our language teacher always takes a week's vacation in mid-October, so we planned our trip to coincide with this, so as not to miss very much class.

I have to say that Morocco is one of those countries that I never thought I would visit. I'm not really sure what I was expecting before we went, not knowing very much about it. But I was absolutely blown away by how breathtakingly beautiful it was, by the friendliness of the Moroccan people, and by the delicious food. I don't know if we'll ever have a chance to go back, but I do know that I will cherish my memories of this trip for the rest of my life!

It took me some time to sort through all our pictures once we got back home to Lisbon -- we took almost 1,000 in our 10 days there! I decided to break up our trip into a series of posts by location. These first few pictures are from Marrakesh, where we spent our first night and part of the next day.

The main sight in Marrakesh is the Djmaa el Fna, a big central plaza in the middle of the medina (old, walled city). The structure in the background is a minaret, which marks a mosque.

In the Djmaa el Fna are snake charmers...

... and monkey-handlers!

Rusty has two monkeys on his back!

We were accosted by henna tatto artists who gave all of us henna tattos (Alex's is a scorpion), and then proceeded to rip us off by charging us way more than they should have.

After about 20 minutes, we decided we couldn't afford to stay in the Djmaa el Fna any longer and went wandering in the souqs.

Pottery for sale -- the funny pots with the cone-shaped lids are tajine pots, the Moroccan version of the slow cooker.

We found a safer, cheaper place to watch the action in the Djmaa el Fna (a rooftop terrace) -- we just bought our lunch and then sat and watched all the craziness from afar.

Next up: the High Atlas Mountains!

A Week in the Life: Sabado (Saturday)

2010-10-09T03:00:00.002-04:00

Saturdays are our "free days," meaning there isn't really a typical Saturday. Some days, we go out and do some sightseeing... other days, we stay home and relax, clean the house, watch movies, or get together with friends. Today, we have planned to go to Belém with the Meyers.

7:45 a.m. - We wake up, have breakfast, and get ready to go.

9:45 a.m. - We leave the house and walk to the bus stop. We have to wait awhile for a bus -- since today is Saturday, the busses don't run as frequently.

10:00 a.m. - We get on a bus and head into town. We get off at the metro station. My bus pass doesn't work when I scan it to enter the metro. I realize that my pass hasn't been validated for this month yet, since when Rusty bought my sticker, he didn't have my pass with him. We decide to take care of it when we get off the Metro.

10:30 a.m. - We exit the Metro and go to the ticket counter. The man tells us there are only 4 stations where we can have the pass validated, and of course, this isn't one of them. We get back on the Metro and ride to another stop. We have my pass validated, then get back on the Metro and ride to the stop where we can catch the tram to Belém.

10:50 a.m. - We are waiting for the tram that will take us out to Belém. There are a lot of people waiting, most of them tourists.

11:10 a.m. - The tram comes and we pile on with everyone else. In the confusion, Rusty's wallet is stolen out of his pocket. Luckily, he realizes what had happened almost immediately and gets off the tram (with Stephen in the Kelty on his back) to confront the guy who took it. Everything happens so fast that I don't have time to get off the tram. The doors close and the tram leaves with Alex and me on board. I'm not sure what to do. I don't have a cell phone, so at first, I think I should ride to Belém and meet the Meyers so at least I will be with someone who has a phone.

11:15 a.m. - I change my mind and decide to get off the tram. We have ridden four stops, and now we have a long walk back the other direction to find Rusty. Alex is crying because he wants to go see Efesson and Biruk. He whines the whole walk back that he's too tired and too thirsty to walk anymore.

11:45 a.m. - Alex and I finally make it back and find Rusty. Meanwhile, Rusty has recovered his wallet, with only 40 euros missing. Everything else is still there, including tickets to a soccer game for Sunday night! We are thankful. We walk back across the street to wait for another tram.

11:55 a.m. - The tram comes again, and we get on. We ride to Belém.

12:15 p.m. - We arrive in Belém. We have decided to eat lunch at a restaurant near the train staition. We find the restaurant, which happens to be a churrasqueira, or grill. At this restaurant, you choose your meat, and they cook it for you. Rusty has lamb and the boys and I have sausages. Our plates also comes with rice, french fries, salad, a drink, a dessert, and coffee. The food is really yummy.

1:30 p.m. - We leave the restaurant. We walk through a park and over to the Monument to the Discoverers. We pay to go up to the top for a great view. We meet the Meyers here.

2:15 p.m. - We walk to the Torre (Tower) of Belém and take a few pictures.

3:15 p.m. - We walk to the Mosteiros (Monastery) dos Jerónimos. We go into the church, but decide not to pay to tour the monastery.

The Monument to the Discoverers

View of the monastery from the top of the monument

View of the Cristo Rei statue from the monument

View of the mosaic in front of the monument. The map in the middle charts the routes of the Portuguese explorers.

In front of the Torre de Belém

The monastery

4:00 p.m. - We walk over to have pasteis de Belém (Belém's famous custard tarts) and coffee. They are still fresh and warm from the ovens when we eat them, and they are delicious. I realize that Stephen's blankie is missing and the last time I remember seeing it was at the restaurant where we ate lunch. Rusty walks back to the restaurant to look for it. It isn't there, but he retraces our steps from earlier in the day and finds it laying on a park bench. At this point, I think to myself that we'd better get home before our luck runs out!

5:00 p.m. - We head home via bus, then metro, then another bus.

5:45 p.m. - We arrive home. We have leftovers for dinner, then bathe the kids and get them ready for bed. It has been a long day, everyone is exhausted, and tomorrow will be another long day with church.

8:15 p.m. - The boys are in bed. I do the dishes and the laundry. Rusty reads our newsletter and we make a few final changes to it before emailing it out.

10:30 p.m. - We head to bed early tonight.

A Week in the Life: Sexta-Feira (Friday)

2010-10-08T03:00:00.002-04:00

7:15 a.m. - Rusty and I get up. My alarm didn't go off and I overslept. The boys are still asleep. Rusty wants to take Alex to school earlier this morning so he has time to talk with Danny about the team retreat coming up in November.

7:30 a.m. - We wake Alex up to get him ready for school and feed him breakfast.

7:50 a.m. - Rusty and Alex leave the house. They miss the first bus they are trying to catch, so they wait for the next one. As they are waiting, Rusty remembers that today is the first day of the month and we need to put our new stickers on our bus passes. Only problem is -- he has both his sticker and my sticker in his wallet. They hurry back up the hill to our apartment so he can give me my sticker, and then they miss the next bus.

8:30 a.m. - Rusty and Alex get on the bus they usually take to school.

9:00 a.m. - Ana comes over and I head to class.

9:30 a.m. - Our last Portuguese class of the week begins.

11:30 a.m. - Class is over. Rusty goes home and I go up to the mall.

1:30 p.m. - I arrive home with Alex. Rusty goes downtown for his afternoon class. After his class, he will meet up with the other guys for Guys' Night Out. Stephen is sleeping. Alex does some quiet activities and watches a little TV. I update our email address book so our newsletter can go out tomorrow and do some laundry and dishes.

4:00 p.m. - Stephen wakes up. I pack the diaper bag and get ready to go to Katie's house for Girls' Night In (with the kids). In two weeks, it will be our turn to have a night out, while the guys have a night in with the kids.

5:00 p.m. - We hop on a bus to go to Katie's house.

5:15 p.m. - We arrive at Katie's. The kids enjoy playing together while we visit.

6:00 p.m. - We have dinner -- yummy French toast! Then we have a short Bible lesson for the kids. Katie teaches tonight about Abraham. It's fun to watch our kids learning about the Bible and having fun together.

Coloring

So focused!

Stephen trying out Sophia's bouncy chair

8:00 p.m. - Alex pees all over himself and Katie's bathmat because he waited too long to go to the potty! This hasn't happened in months. I don't have any clean clothes for him, so I tell him he will just have to wear his wet things home.

8:15 p.m. - I leave Katie's to catch the bus home.

8:45 p.m. - We arrive home, and I get the kids bathed and ready for bed.

9:30 p.m. - The boys are in bed. They are tired, so they go right to sleep. Rusty is still not back. I expect he will be home late. I play on the computer for awhile and download an episode of "Covert Affairs" to watch.

11:30 p.m. - I head to bed. Rusty is still not back. The guys always stay out pretty late for Guys' Night Out.

A Week in the Life: Quinta-Feira (Thursday)

2010-10-07T03:00:00.001-04:00

6:15 a.m. - Alex wakes up with a wet bed. We are working on night-time potty-training and have been getting him up before we go to bed to go potty, but sometimes, his pull-up is still wet in the morning, and these days, we have been dealing with leaks and wet sheets. I get him some dry underwear and have him lay back down in our bed. He eventually goes back to sleep while I get up and have my Quiet Time.

7:30 a.m. - Rusty, Alex, and Stephen are awake. We have breakfast and get ready to go. I strip Alex's bed and throw his sheets in the wash. I have to hang out laundry in order to free up the washer for the sheets. Hopefully, these clothes will be dry by early afternoon so I can hang his sheets out and get them dry before he goes to bed.

8:20 a.m. - Rusty and Alex leave for school.

9:00 a.m. - Ana comes over. I leave for school.

9:30 a.m. - We're in class again. Today, Eunice asks us to tell her about how we met in Portuguese, using the tense we have been studying. (One of the ways the past imperfect tense is used is to describe things that happened a long time ago or over an indefinite length of time. For example, "Many years ago, when we were students at Cascade College...") We make a lot of mistakes, but we have fun trying to tell our story.

11:30 a.m. - Class is over. Rusty heads home. I head up to the mall for some homework time.

12:50 p.m. - I walk over to get Alex from school. His teacher tells me that he refused to eat any lunch and just sat there and cried the whole time. This is pretty unusual behavior for him. When I ask, he says he just didn't like what they were having today. He seems extra tired and grumpy, so I decide to have him take a nap when we get home. I also tell him that he won't be getting any snacks before his nap since he didn't eat his lunch.

1:30 p.m. - Alex and I arrive home. There is a nice surprise waiting for me at home -- Ana helped Stephen do a handprint canvas to hang on the wall this morning while we were in class. It is really cute. Rusty's afternoon class has been cancelled again (his teacher has been sick this week). I let Alex have a little time to play while I eat lunch. Then, he and I lay down on my bed together. He goes to sleep almost immediately.

Ana and Stephen with the canvas she helped him make

A close-up of the canvas. I love handprint art!

2:30 p.m. - Both the kids are asleep, so we do our homework without interruptions today.

4:30 p.m. - Rusty leaves to go downtown. Last week, he made plans with another student at the school he attends in the afternoon to get together this afternoon. Then, he will go to the church for the Thursday night dinner and prayer meeting. We swap out going to this each week, while the other one stays home with the kids. It is a nice way to get some Portuguese practice and also get to know some of the members at the Lisbon church.

5:00 p.m. - Alex wakes up. I do some housework and some spend some time on the computer.

5:30 p.m. - Stephen is awake. Katie, Teague, and Jordan come over for Girls' Prayer Time. We try to do this once every week or two. We pray together and share our time logs. Basically, this is a new accountability system where we are keeping track of how we spend our time every day. I have a little notebook where I record how much time I spend doing certain activities each day. Last week, I "worked" over 27 hours -- this includes language study (class and homework), language practice (listening and conversation), work for and with the team (meetings and projects I am responsible for, like our team newsletter), and work I do for our family (like our family newsletter, expense reports, family website, etc.). My notebook is also a good place to keep track of things like my Quiet Time and mentoring.

6:45 p.m. - The girls leave. I mix some cooked chicken in with the leftover Spanish rice and top it with some grated cheese. It makes for a nice, easy meal for the boys and me tonight. After we eat, I give them their baths and get them ready for bed. I put clean sheets on Alex's bed.

8:30 p.m. - I put Stephen to bed, but I let Alex stay up a little later since he had a good nap today. I wash the dinner dishes and he helps me. He is still at the age where it is fun to help Mom with her chores. Then I read him a few chapters in one of the Magic Treehouse books. He is really enjoying these.

9:15 p.m. - Alex goes to bed. I finish up my homework.

10:00 p.m. - Rusty arrives home. We talk and watch TV for a bit before going to bed.

A Week in the Life: Quarta-Feira (Wednesday)

2010-10-06T03:00:00.001-04:00

6:45 a.m. - I'm up for my Quiet Time again this morning. I love the stillness of the house in the early morning.

7:30 a.m. - Rusty and Alex are awake. Stephen is still sleeping. We have breakfast and I help Alex get ready to go. Then, I take a shower.

8:25 a.m. - Rusty and Alex leave for school. Stephen is still asleep. I guess he is catching up on his rest since he didn't get a good nap yesterday and went to bed so late last night.

8:45 a.m. - Stephen is finally awake. I get him up and feed him breakfast.

9:00 a.m. - Ana comes over. Stephen is still in his high chair. He cries when he sees Ana because he knows I'm about to leave. He is still adjusting to this new routine. It is only the second week she has been keeping him since last April. I grab my stuff and leave for school.

9:30 a.m. - Time for class. Rusty comes in a little late because he stopped in at the café next door and bought a few pastries. I love the croissants filled with Nutella, and the pasteis de nata (custard tarts). He also bought me a cheese sandwich for later since I don't get to eat lunch until late.

11:30 a.m. - Class is over. Rusty heads home and I head up to the mall again. I enjoy this time to just sit and work on homework without any other distractions. I eat my sandwich and do my homework. I've also been using this time to read an autobiography by T. Ernest Wilson called Angola Beloved. It's an interesting read; missionary autobiographies are so inspiring.

12:50 p.m. - I walk over to get Alex, and then we walk back together. The bus is actually on time today (wonder of wonders), so we will get home in time for Rusty to get to his class.

1:30 p.m. - We arrive home, but Rusty's class has been cancelled again, so he won't be going anywhere this afternoon. Stephen is already down for his nap. I warm myself up something to eat and sit down to relax and talk with Rusty for a little bit before we start on our homework. Usually, while we do our homework, Alex plays with his toys or watches TV. Sometimes, he likes to do "homework" with us, which means that he practices writing on one of his wipe-off books or colors.

2:15 p.m. - Stephen is awake. He sure didn't sleep long today. We try to keep working, but it's difficult when you have to get up every 30 seconds to resolve a sibling dispute or refill a sippy cup or a snack bowl. Sometimes, I feel like a human vending machine! I do some dishes and hang out some laundry. Alex blows bubbles on the balcony for awhile.

4:45 p.m. - We decide to take a walk to the park and the butcher shop. Our local butcher has been closed down for a remodel since we got back from the States, but they are open again, and we want to see what it looks like inside. The boys have fun running around on the grass at the park and playing on the exercise equipment. On our way to the butcher, we stop in at a "Payshop" and Rusty pays our phone and Internet bill. This is how we pay all our bills in Portugal -- in cash at one of these places.

The park near our house.

There is no playground, but Alex loves to play on the exercise equipment

A short ways from the park is Didu, our local bakery and pastry shop

There is a pharmacy next door to Didu (green sign), and the Payshop is in this same complex. This building has shops on the ground floor with apartments on the floors above, very common in Europe.

Our local post office and bank are also within walking distance of our apartment.

Small pond with a fountain just down the hill from our apartment. We walk past this pond on our way to and from the bus stop every day. The boys like to watch the family of ducks that swims in the pond, and sometimes we bring old bread to feed them.

5:15 p.m. - The remodeled butcher shop is very nice inside. All the meat is displayed in a glass case. There is also a deli section where you can buy lunch meats and cheeses, and a small fresh fruits and vegetables section. They remember us and are glad to see us. I ask for two whole chickens and some ground beef, but they are out of ground beef at the moment, so he gives us hamburger patties instead. We also get a rabbit for dinner tonight. I ask him to cut it up for me, and he asks if I want the head and the giblets (yes, it was a whole, skinned rabbit)! We get a few veggies, pay for our purchases, and walk home.

Our local butcher, on the opposite corner from Didu

5:45 p.m. - Rusty bathes the kids while I start on dinner -- rabbit stew with coconut cream. I also start on the dishes while waiting for the stew to cook.

7:00 p.m. - We sit down to eat. After dinner, I finish up the dishes, then help the boys finish getting ready for bed.

8:15 p.m. - The boys are in bed early tonight. Now, we can finally finish our homework! Wednesday nights are also good for catching up on emails, housework, or any number of other projects. I spend some time putting the finishing touches on our family newsletter since that needs to go out by the end of the week. Rusty is reading up on Morocco and making plans for our trip there next week.

11:00 p.m. - Bedtime

A Week in the Life: Terça-Feira (Tuesday)

2010-10-05T03:00:00.004-04:00

6:40 a.m. - I get up before everyone else this morning so I can have my Quiet Time. I try to do this 5 days a week... some weeks, I do better than others! Currently, I'm working through the Beth Moore study "Esther: It's Tough Being a Woman." It has been an absolutely amazing study, especially in this season of my life.

7:15 a.m. - Alex, Stephen, and Rusty get up. I take a shower.

7:30 a.m. - Rusty leaves for a "Head of Household" meeting at the café just down the street from our house. Basically, these are team meetings without the moms and kids. I feed the kids and help Alex get dressed and ready for school.

8:05 a.m. - Ana's daughter, Sophia, knocks on our door. Ana will take Alex to school today since Rusty is at the meeting. I say goodbye to Alex. Then I get Stephen dressed, tidy up the house a bit, and spend some time on the computer.

9:00 a.m. - Ana comes back, and I leave for class.

9:30 a.m. - Another Portuguese class begins. We chat for awhile, some in English, some in Portuguese, and correct our homework. Today, we also spend some time reading aloud and translating a Geronimo Stilton book.

Estamos a aprender Português (We are learning Portuguese.)

11:30 a.m. - Class is over. I stay at the school after class and work on some of my homework.

12:00 p.m. - I leave to catch my bus. He is running late today, so I wait for almost 15 minutes. Some days, it feels like I spend half my time waiting on some form of public transportation.

12:20 p.m. - I arrive at the mall, find a place to sit down, and do some more homework.

12:50 p.m. - I start walking to Alex's school.

1:00 p.m. - I arrive at Alex's school. His teacher has a few things she needs to talk to me about. We leave a bit later than usual. I wonder if I should hurry or just expect the bus to be late again. I decide not to take any chances, and we hurry.

1:14 p.m. - I'm glad we hurried, because the bus is on time today! We hop on and head for home.

1:30 p.m. - We arrive home. Rusty leaves for his afternoon class downtown. His class starts at 2:30, but it takes him almost an hour to get there on the bus and metro. I eat lunch and Alex watches an episode of "Scooby-Doo."

2:00 p.m. - I decide to make Alex take a nap since tonight we will be out late at the team meeting. I make him go potty and lay down on my bed (since Stephen is already asleep in their room). He is not very happy with me. He whines so much that he wakes up Stephen. Grrrr! I go in to try to help Stephen go back to sleep.

2:20 p.m. - I hear the door to my room open, and Alex comes out to tell me he wet the bed. Little stinker peed all over my bed (on purpose) because he was mad about having to take a nap! I am pretty upset. Alex gets a spanking and some dry underwear. Then I strip the bedspread from my bed and throw it in the wash. I make him lay back down. There is no hope of getting Stephen to go back to sleep, but I tell Alex he has to lay there until it's time to go.

2:45 p.m. - I try to do a little work on the computer, but it's hopeless with a needy baby trying to climb in my lap. I gather the ingredients for Spanish rice, which I was asked to bring for dinner tonight. I pack everything in my backpack diaper bag. I wash the dishes and fold some laundry.

4:00 p.m. - Alex never did go to sleep, so I tell him he can get up now and get ready to go.

4:20 p.m. - We leave the house for our team meeting, which will be out at the Bible Institute, where the Meyers and Jordan live. Tuesday nights are team nights. One week, we have an all-team meeting followed by dinner together out at the Bible Institute. The next week, we have an all-team dinner, fellowship, and praise and prayer time at our house.

4:30 p.m. - We get on the bus. After about 15 minutes, I realize we are on the wrong bus. This bus will not take us all the way out to the Bible Institute. It has circled around and is now heading back the way we came. We get off and walk across the street to wait for another bus.

4:50 p.m. - We get on another bus. This one doesn't have a number, but it says it is going to "Tojal," which is where the Bible Institute is. We get on. After awhile, I realize that I don't know where we are. This bus is taking a completely different route than I am used to. I wonder what I should do. I decide to stay on and hope that it will eventually take me to Tojal. Eventually, it does, but it drops us off in the center of town, not near the Bible Institute. I have to walk across town, lugging my backpack and both the kids.

5:30 p.m. - What should have been a 20 minute trip has taken the better part of an hour. I arrive at the Bible Institute tired and extremely frustrated.

5:45 p.m. - Rusty arrives at the Bible Institute.

6:00 p.m. - Team meeting begins. Tonight, we are talking about decision-making... trying to hammer out a process.

Danny's visual aid (our decision-making grid)

Listening attentively

Note-Taker Katie, Baby-Holder Jordan

The kiddos enjoy playing together during the meetings.

Sleeping is allowed when you're a baby!

7:30 p.m. - I step out of the meeting to start my rice so it will be ready for dinner in half an hour.

8:00 p.m. - Dinner-time! Katie made enchiladas (yum!), and we have rice, beans, chips, salsa, and guacamole to go with them. Everyone eats their fill. Dessert is Pioneer Woman's chocolate Texas sheet cake, made by Teague.

Homemade enchiladas -- even the tortillas were made from scratch!

9:00 p.m. - We leave to catch our bus back home.

9:30 p.m. - We arrive home. It is late, so we put the kids to bed without baths.

10:00 p.m. - I still have homework to do since I didn't get it finished this afternoon. I hang my bedspread out to dry and start another load of laundry (never-ending chore, I'm telling you!).

11:30 p.m. - To bed!

A Week in the Life: Segunda-Feira (Monday)

2010-10-04T03:00:00.001-04:00

6:45 a.m. - Both the boys are awake early this morning, so we bring them into our bed for some snuggle time. It's a nice way to start the week. I make breakfast (semolina -- like Cream of Wheat) for everyone. Rusty makes a full pot of coffee. I help Alex get dressed and ready for school, and then I shower before Rusty leaves.

8:20 a.m. - Rusty and Alex leave. Rusty takes Alex to school most mornings. It is a 15 minute bus ride, followed by a 10-15 minute walk. Then, Rusty has to get himself back into town for our class at 9:30. It takes the better part of an hour to take Alex to or pick him up from school using public transportation. (Look for a documentary featuring Alex entitled "This is How I Go to School" in a future post.) I finish getting ready, start a load of laundry, and straighten up the house a bit.

9:00 a.m. - Ana comes to stay with Stephen while I leave for class. I grab my stuff and walk down the hill to the bus stop. I don't have to wait long for a bus this time of morning. I listen to the "grupo" (mini-conversation) we were to have prepared today for homework over and over on my iPod on the way into town. I get off the bus and walk to the school. Eunice isn't there yet, so I sit on the steps across the street and listen to the "grupo" a few more times. Then I listen to my irregular verbs, present and past tenses. The repetition, especially when done daily, really helps me implant these in my brain.

9:30 a.m. - Eunice is running a little late because she missed her bus. I listen to a few more tracks from my "Portuguese Sounds" playlist. Rusty shows up and we sit on the steps together.

9:50 a.m. - Eunice is here, and we are ready to begin class. Class usually consists of going over our TPC (trabalhar para casa = work at home or "homework"), lots of conversation practice, and drilling new concepts. Right now, we are working on the past imperfect tense. We recite the grupo and Eunice corrects our pronunciation. Then she times us, to see if we can recite it under a certain time limit. She gives us more homework for this afternoon.

11:30 a.m. - Class is over. I hurry out to try to get a bus up to the mall near Alex's school, but I've missed it. So I sit on a bench near the bus-stop with Rusty and we work on some of our homework together.

12:00 p.m. - I get on the next bus that comes by. Rusty heads home, the opposite direction, to relieve Ana and have lunch. The bus winds through town, up a big hill, and past a giant construction site where they are building a new hospital, finally dropping me off at the mall. I find a place to sit and work on homework for awhile.

12:50 p.m. - I start walking to Alex's school. From the mall, I walk down a steep hill and across a field to get to the housing complex where his school is. It takes about 10 minutes to get there.

1:05 p.m. - Alex and I are walking back to the shopping center. The bus is supposed to leave at 1:15, so I hurry him, not wanting to miss it. We get to the bus stop at 1:14, then proceed to wait for the next 15 minutes. We watch the work going on at the construction site. Alex loves to watch the trucks and cranes. The bus is running so late today, I begin to wonder if we have missed it. I ask a lady at the bus-stop in my halting Portuguese if the 204 already came. She says no. I feel good that I am able to communicate a little, even about something as simple as a bus schedule.

1:30 p.m. - We are on the bus and heading home. Rusty is going to be late to his afternoon class, and I feel bad about that. We get home about 1:45, only to find out that Rusty isn't going to class because his teacher cancelled today. I have a late lunch, then work on homework and expense reports for most of the afternoon. Stephen takes a long nap. Alex watches a little TV while Rusty walks to the store to buy a new notebook for school and to the bakery to buy some bread. When Rusty gets back, he takes Alex to the park to throw the Frisbee for a little while.

5:30 p.m. - I start working on dinner. Stephen is now awake, so Rusty takes both boys and walks to the bank so I can make dinner in peace. I get the soup put together, and while I am waiting for it to cook, I wash dishes.

6:45 p.m. - Dinner is ready -- sausage potato soup with fresh bread from Didu, our local bakery. Most nights, after dinner, we have a short family devotional. Rusty reads the daily selection from "Streams in the Desert," our current devotional book. Then we pray for one family in our "Prayer Album," a little album I made with pictures of our friends and family (mostly using pictures from Christmas cards).

Sausage potato soup -- a family favorite!

Ready to eat!

The boys love to look at all the pictures in our prayer album

A close-up of our prayer album. It's not quite finished yet... I need to add the names to the cardstock page opposite the picture. But it serves its purpose just the same.

7:30 p.m. - It's time to start getting ready for bed. The boys take a bath together most nights. I let them play and splash for awhile in the tub. After everyone is dressed and ready for bed, we pick up toys, and then they each get to choose a story or two, depending on how much time we have. We finish with a Bible story, a song or two, and then bed.

These pictures were taken about a month ago, but they give you an idea of the size of our bathtub, about 2/3 the size of its American counterpart.

Story-time

8:30 p.m. - The boys are in bed. I put away the leftover soup, wash the rest of the dishes, hang out some more laundry, send a few emails, and finish up my homework. There are two pieces of apple pie leftover from dinner on Friday. We eat them with a little icecream before going to bed.

11:30 p.m. - To bed!

A Week in the Life: Domingo (Sunday)

2010-10-03T03:00:00.005-04:00

8:00 a.m. - We wake up. We can sleep a little later on Sundays since church doesn't start until 10:30. With the cooler weather, we are able to close the blinds in the boys' room, so they sleep in also, which is nice. We have breakfast -- leftover blueberry muffins from yesterday, yogurt, and fruit. Then we shower and get ready for church.

10:00 a.m. - We are just walking out the door. Usually, we try to leave by 9:45. Today, we are running late, which means we have missed the two busses that will get us to church on time. We walk to the bus stop and wait for the bus. Alex climbs the tree near the café while we wait. Finally, a bus comes, and we hop on. We ride to the nearest Metro station and get on the metro (subway). We ride to Picoas, ten stops away, then walk 3 blocks to the church building.

~~Walking~~ Running to the bus stop

Waiting for the bus

On the bus

On the Metro

The church is up the street on the left

The Lisbon Church of Christ

10:45 a.m. - We are 15 minutes late to church, but they haven't started yet, because the power has been out all morning. This is a common occurence -- not the power being out, but starting late for whatever reason. Things are much more laid back here. It's good preparation for Africa! We greet our fellow church-goers the European way (kissing each cheek). After a few minutes, the power comes on and it's time for Bible class. There are no classes for the kids today, so the boys sit with us in the adult class. It doesn't last long since we got started so late.

11:30 a.m. - Worship begins. The format is pretty standard, although the atmosphere is a lot more lively than most churches of Christ in the U.S.! Many African and Brazilian members are a contributing factor to this. In fact, the church has a smaller percentage of Portuguese members than those of other nationalities. Everything is in Portuguese. After the offering, the kids head upstairs for children's worship. Stephen isn't quite old enough to go, so he stays with us and plays quietly during the service. Sometimes, he takes a nap, but not today. I do my best to pay attention and try to understand, which requires an enormous amount of mental energy. After almost 5 months of language study, it is frustrating how little spoken Portuguese I am able to actually pick up. I feel like I should be able to understand more, and it is discouraging.

12:30 p.m. - The service is over. We just found out that there is a lunch after church for couples and families. We didn't know about it before, but we decide to stay. We visit and watch the kids play while the food is being prepared.

1:45 p.m. - The food is finally ready. The Portuguese eat lunch and dinner very late by our standards. It took some getting used to in the beginning, but now we expect it, and I always come to church with lots of snacks for the boys. Today, there is roast chicken, some type of beef stew with rice, a green salad, potato chips, bread, and ganja (Portuguese chicken noodle soup). Everything is delicious.

Alex, Stephen, and Eliana playing

Eating lunch

2:30 p.m. - We leave before dessert is served so that we can catch the 3:00 bus back home. This is how it is when you don't have your own vehicle -- your life is ruled by public transportation schedules! We walk back to the Metro station and hop on the train. We make the bus with 10 minutes to spare. Stephen sleeps most of the way home.

3:20 p.m. - We are home for the rest of the day. There are no Sunday night services at the Lisbon church. While Rusty builds ramps and plays cars with the boys in their room, I pot a few herbs I bought yesterday and hang out the laundry. The laundry is a never-ending chore here. I literally do at least one load almost every single day. Part of it is our tiny washer, and part of it is the drying space. If I don't do a load every day, it can quickly pile up on me. Then, I wash up the dishes from breakfast while the boys watch Veggie Tales.

Playing cars

"Cheeeeeeeese!"

Basil and cilantro

Laundry hung out to dry

5:30 p.m. - Our Sunday night traditon is brinner, or breakfast for dinner. Tonight, I make banana pancakes. We eat, and Rusty helps me clean up the kitchen. Danny comes over to use our scanner. I give the boys baths and get them ready for bed.

Stephen "helping" me mix up the pancakes

8:00 p.m. - The kids are in bed. They don't normally go to bed this early, but Sundays are long days, and neither of them got a good nap today, so they are ready. Stephen has a little trouble settling tonight. I finally let him fall asleep with Rusty on the couch.

9:00 p.m. - Rusty still has homework to do. I sit down to find something to watch on TV. "Pearl Harbor" is just starting. I decide to watch for just a little while, but then we get sucked into the movie and end up finishing it.

12:30 a.m. - We're finally going to bed!

Top Ten: Jardim Zoologico

2010-09-29T18:16:00.001-04:00

After we returned from the U.S., we decided to buy passes for the Lisbon Zoo. They basically pay for themselves after just two visits, and this way, we can go several times over the next few months, and not feel pressured to see and do it all in one day. We have already been twice, and will be going again this coming Tuesday for our next field trip! Here are my top ten pictures from our first two zoo trips (both with the Meyer family):

Group picture just inside the entrance holding some pretty birdies! Notice that Biruk is not holding a bird -- he was a little too scared...

But the next time we went, Biruk was so brave and agreed to let a bird sit on his shoulder for a picture of the 3 boys together! I just love this picture and how it captures each boy's personality so perfectly!

The zoo has a bird show with trained birds, including several birds of prey. That was very cool.

There is also a dolphin show, of Sea World quailty I am told. After seeing this show, Alex informed me he wants to be a dolphin trainer when he grows up.

One of the most unique features of this zoo is the teleférico, or cable car ride. It takes you all around the zoo so you can view the animals from up above! The kids love it, of course!

And now for a few animals:

Hippos

Rhino (I am curious what happened to his horn. I wonder if he was a poaching victim.)

Flamingoes

Lions napping

Giraffes

I just realized that all my animal pictures are African animals! I guess that reveals my bias.

Top Ten: August Rush

2010-09-16T19:18:00.000-04:00

Forgive the movie reference (great flick, by the way)... but that really is an apt description of our August. I can't believe it's already mid-September and I haven't done any real updating on our lives since we got back from our time in the U.S.

So, without further ado, here are some snapshots of life in the past month...

We arrived back in Lisbon just in time to go on another field trip with our teacher, Eunice. Again, we went to Sintra, and this time, we toured the Quinta da Regaleira. The kids had a great time exploring the gardens, which included towers to climb, dark tunnels to get lost in, and a lake with stepping stones to cross.

Group picture in the gardens

The villa

The Saturday after we got back, we attended the wedding of Johnny and Susana, friends from the Lisbon church of Christ. Rusty did several pre-marital counseling sessions with them before we left for the U.S. They usually came to our house for dinner one night a week, and then they would talk with Rusty in the kitchen while I put the kids to bed. We enjoyed the wedding, but it was very hot and the boys were tired and still suffering from jet-lag, so we left before all the festivities were over.

Our family with Mr. and Mrs. John Soares

We spent the first couple of weeks after we got back just trying to keep cool. We don't have air conditioning in our apartment, so when the weather gets hot and humid, we just have to suffer through it. Since we're on the second floor, we do get very nice breezes, especially in the evening, and I have to admit that it is nice to fall asleep with the windows open listening to the sound of the waterfall in the park right next to our building.

Watching TV in their underwear / diaper (too hot to even think about going outside).

Taking baths is a great way to cool off!

Alex's trains have a new home... in the trundle bed! Makes clean-up a breeze!

Alex had a week off of school right when we got back, but then he started a new year at O Peixinho Azul. At first, he kept saying he didn't want to go, but now that he is back, he seems happy to be there and is always excited to talk about what he did that day. His teachers tell us that they now speak to him entirely in Portuguese and he understands everything they say to him. He is also starting to use a little Portuguese himself, mostly when he is around other kids. Next week, Stephen is going to start going to school with Alex (they have a toddler class), so we'll see how that goes.

Waiting for the bus on his first day back to school

We celebrated Efesson Meyer's 5th birthday at one of our bi-monthly team fellowship nights at our house. We had tacos (yum!), and Teague made a Portuguese yogurt cake and decorated it to look like a road with real Matchbox cars on top. All the kids thought it was super cool! Efesson's birthday celebration also included a trip to the zoo later that weekend, but the zoo was so cool that it's worthy of it's own post, so stay tuned for that in a few days!

Team kiddos, sporting their sunglasses (a gift from the birthday boy). Note the recent addition -- Sophia Reese, born while we were gone.

The last Sunday in August, there was a community festival in the park just down the hill from our apartment. They had live music, food, people selling handicrafts, moon-bounces for the kids, and fireworks. We went on Sunday evening and walked around. We had a big plate of snails (Stephen ate them this time and loved them!) and some grilled sardines. Alex wore himself out jumping on the moon-bounces and the trampoline. After we walked home and put the kids to bed, we could still hear the music through our open windows, and we had a great view of the fireworks from our kitchen balcony.

Stephen at the festival. He's wearing one of Rusty's old shirts. Oh, and he's had his haircut. He looks like such a little boy in this picture.

And then, of course, there's all the daily stuff... like settling back into the routine of classes, homework, team meetings, church, etc. Our days are really very full and very busy, and it seems like there is usually something going on every weekend as well. I know some of you may be wondering what it is we DO all day... so at some point in the future, I plan to do a series of posts called "A Week in the Life" to give you a better idea of how we spend our time.

Pictures of the Boys

2010-08-31T10:46:00.000-04:00

At my mom's request, we went into a portrait studio to have some professional pictures taken of the boys while we were in the States this summer. We decided to try out Portrait Innovations, and could not have been happier with the results! Our package included a CD of all images from our session, not just the ones we chose to be printed. The best ones are showcased in this slideshow.

Top Ten: Stephens Family Reunion 2010

2010-08-22T16:53:00.000-04:00

The week after Matt and Janille's wedding, the entire Stephens family was blessed to spend a few days all together in Hot Springs, AR. We are only able to be all together like this once every few years or so... the last time was in 2008 in Port Sanilac, MI. With our family's plans to move to Angola next year, who knows when the next time will be? So, we try to take advantage of times like this. We packed a lot into five days, and after sifting through all the photos from multiple cameras, these are my top ten:

Story-time with the older kids

Stephen reading books with Babu!

Bumper boats at a local family fun center. We also did go-carts and played mini-golf here.

One day we went to a park for a picnic lunch. Stephen and Aunt Janille had a lot of fun on the slide.

And some of the group played a round of disc golf.

We always play lots of games. This was our game of Scotland Yard... Rusty makes a great Mr. X!

And the kiddos enjoyed having a rousing pillow fight with Babu!

Nyanya and Stephen watching the trains at Tiny Town Trains, a very cool place!

Cousins -- the best picture we have of all of them together! Currently, their ages are 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1!

A toast to Matt and Janille with Bitter Lemons from Kenya! (Rusty found them at an African imports store in Nashville.) I have to say that there is nothing more refreshing on a hot day than one of these babies, ice cold.

This toast followed right after we presented Matt and Janille with our family's wedding gift to them, a Year of Monthly Date Nights! This idea was Rusty's brain child, and then I took it and ran with it, coming up with the 12 "themes." My sister and my mom both thought it was a cool idea, so they went in on it with us. Basically, the idea was to give Matt and Janille one "date night" per month for the first year of their marriage -- a perfect gift for a young couple just starting out, both of them still in school. I will share in greater detail about this gift idea later, but I don't want to give too much away at this point since Matt and Janille will be opening the gifts one month at a time. After their first anniversary next July, I will share the 12 themes and the contents of each package.

Top Ten: Matt and Janille's Wedding

2010-08-13T18:41:00.000-04:00

It was hard to pick 10 favorite pictures from this day, because of course, there were so many great ones! What a special day it was... congratulations, Matt and Janille! We love you and are so happy for you.

A beautiful bride

Brothers-in-law (Rusty and Josh were also groomsmen.)

Sisters-in-law (and two nieces / flower-girls)

Alex and Stephen in their wedding finery -- Alex looked like such a big boy in his sport coat and tie!

Michaela and Eliana were the most adorable flower girls ever and did a great job!

This is my favorite picture of Matt and Janille, taken right after they lit their unity candle. I love the look of joy shining on both their faces.

Minister / father-of-the-groom -- this is the face of a man who has just married off his third and last child!

Our family, including several "special guests"

The bride and groom with all their nieces and nephews

Groom's cake -- the Death Star from "Star Wars!" This cake had lights and was on a stand that turned around -- the picture doesn't really do it justice. Janille had a lovely traditional wedding cake, but the conversation item was definitely this masterpiece!

More Sweet Moments

2010-07-25T17:11:00.001-04:00

Scroll down for the original "Sweet Moments" post and explanation.

dinner (yummy homemade curry) and conversation with a childhood friend, Brittany (Hemphill) Foster, and her family at her home in Tulsa. Thanks, Facebook -- it had been 20+ years since we had seen or talked to each other, and I doubt it would have happened otherwise!
the blessing of being with my entire family, all at once, at Stephens Family Reunion 2010 in Hot Springs, AR
reading stories to my nieces
brusing Michaela's hair
lunch and conversation with Ken and Ann Bolden, missionary friends from Kenya
introducing Josh and Julie to Settlers of Catan
talks over coffee with Mom and Dad
walking in downtown Hot Springs with my sister, window shopping and drinking iced coffee
watching a thunderstorm roll in and smelling the rain coming (I love a good thunderstorm!)
presenting Matt and Janille with their wedding gift from all of us (a year's worth of Date Nights in a Box -- I'll share more about this gift idea in a later post), followed by prayer-time for them, and a toast with Bitter Lemons all the way from Kenya
singing before bed with all the kids
couples date to the Pancake House in Hot Springs
playing Scotland Yard
lunch at Mayuri (our favorite Indian restaurant ever) in Memphis
browsing a used bookstore for hidden treasures
taking Alex to see "How to Train Your Dragon"
visiting with friends, old and new, at Esther's birthday party
lunch with our Support Team at Hillsboro (We are so blessed to have the support and encouragement of so many people there.)
singing old hymns, in English, in 4-part harmony with our church family
picnic supper at a very cool park
playdate with Rebekah and Hannah Brown at the Monkey's Treehouse in Nashville
watching Alex become so much more confident in the water -- he is not swimming completely independently yet, but we have made some great strides this summer due to all of the opportunities we have had to swim during our travels

I do plan on sharing some pictures soon -- "Top Ten" posts of Matt and Janille's wedding, and our family reunion in Hot Springs are in the works. For now, there are pictures on Facebook, or you can visit my sister's blog.

Sweet Moments

2010-07-07T16:04:00.002-04:00

We've been back in the States about a month now, and we have another month to go. One thing I decided to do when we first got back was to record in my journal some of the "sweet moments" of this time back in the U.S. There isn't a lot of time for journaling and personal reflection when you're on the road, fundraising, visiting family and friends, shopping, and running around like crazy gathering paperwork for your visas. However, it doesn't take long to jot down a few things every day or two, and it keeps me mindful of the blessings that we are experiencing, even in this hectic time. Here are some of the sweet moments so far (excerpted from my journal):

Listening to cousins squeal with laughter while playing in the sprinkler together
Wii fun
Dinnertime craziness with 5 kids under 5
Worshipping God and hearing from his Word in English
Carousel rides at Greenfield Village
Chuck E. Cheese madness
Conversations with my sister
Seeing the "stars and stripes" billowing across the sky
My first trip to Target in almost four months, followed by a strawberry limeade from Sonic
Having our own car again
Dryer fresh clothes -- so soft and sweet-smelling!
The feeling of homecoming our first Sunday back at Hillsboro
Alex welcomed back with joy and open arms by all his friends from church
Singing my favorite hymn, "Be Still My Soul" with 500+ Hillsboro members -- beautiful!
Good American pizza
A sultry summer night in Nashville spent with friends from Hillsboro, watching our kids get soaked in the sprinkler and eating delicious food off the grill.
World Cup excitement -- we've managed to squeeze in watching a few games
Hearing stories of veteran missionaries to Kenya, Hilton and Avanelle Merritt
Being prayed over at the West University Church of Christ in Houston after Rusty presented on Wednesday night, and the realization that settled over me of the privilege it is to be playing a part in God's work in Angola.
Sharing blessings and marriage advice with Matt and Janille at their rehearsal dinner, and enjoying the absolutely scrumptious Texas barbeque!
Watching my baby brother and his bride say their vows, exchange their rings, light their unity candle, share their first kiss as husband and wife, cut their cake, and leave the church in a shower of birdseed and bubbles. My heart is so full and so thankful that we got to be there to celebrate their special day!
Family friend and former Kenya missionary Carla Dean running up at the literal last minute (as Matt and Janille were about to drive away from the church) to hug Matt and wish him well. Her plane didn't arrive in time for the ceremony, and she almost missed him after the reception, but made it in the nick of time!
Listening in as Uncle David, Aunt Mary Helen, CDT, Mom and Dad shared memories and funny stories around the table. How amazing to consider all the ways God has worked in and through these 5, not to mention countless other missionaries to Kenya.
Fireworks with Steve and Wendy and their kids in Abilene on July 4th
Bedtime lullabies with Steve on his guitar.

Caracóis

2010-07-02T00:00:00.000-04:00

One of the summertime treats in Portugal is caracóis, or snails! Yep, you read that right. We first had the opportunity to try them on our field trip to Sintra. I only had one or two, and this because I finally caved under the intense peer pressure being put on me by my teammates. They really aren't that bad if you don't think too hard about what you are actually eating (which can be difficult since you have to remove them from the shell with a toothpick). The texture reminded me of mushrooms, and they take on the flavor of whatever they are cooked in, which in Portugal is onion, garlic, and bacon.

Alex was in school on the day of our field trip, and he was intensely jealous when he found out that we had all eaten snails without him. He begged for days to try snails, so one afternoon, just before we left for the U.S., we took a walk down to a local café and ordered a large plate to share. I wondered if Alex would really go through with it; I half thought he would chicken out when it came down to actually putting one in his mouth. However, to my great surprise, the kid who turns his nose up at asparagus and spinach ate his first snail without batting an eye, then smacked his lips and announced, "Mmmmmm, that was good! I want another one." I guess I shouldn't be surprised... he does, after all, like green tea and curry, two things most four-year olds wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole.

Caracóis

"Nooooooo, don't eat me!"

And after the snails... a pastel de nata, another of Alex's favorite Portuguese treats.

Stephen tried snails, too, but wasn't too impressed.

Sintra

2010-06-29T23:58:00.002-04:00

I promised more pictures of Sintra, where we went for our field trip at the end of May. About a 40-minute train ride from Lisbon, Sintra has a lot to see and do. On this day, we toured the Palácio Nacional de Sintra and afterwards shared a picnic lunch in a nearby park. Rusty and I were so impressed with Sintra, though, that we took the train out there again the very next day on a spur-of-the-moment anniversary getaway. (Robert and Teague offered to keep our kids overnight -- can't turn down an offer like that!) We didn't do anymore sightseeing -- just enjoyed walking the streets in the cool of the evening, savoring the peace and tranquility, and eating a delicious dinner. I think we are going to try to go back sometime when we can bring Alex (he was in school the day of the field trip) and tour the Moorish castle.

The pictures below are some of the best shots from both days.

Sintra from the steps of the Palácio -- you can see the walls of the Castelo dos Mouros (Moorish Castle) snaking along the crest of the hill.

View of the hill (and the castle atop it) from directly below.

The Palácio Nacional (National Palace) is well marked by its conical twin chimneys.

Before we toured the palace, Eunice told us to be sure to look up (at the ceilings) and down (at the floors) as we went through because many of them are very elaborate. In this, the Sala dos Brasões (Coat of Arms Room), the ceiling displays the shields of 74 16th-century noble families.

Sintra City Hall

Top Ten: Together in Portugal

2010-06-24T23:08:00.005-04:00

On May 4th, the Reeses and the Meyers finally arrived in Portugal after months of waiting. For the first time in our history, the entire Angola Team is now living in the same city! (Technically, I guess that's not true right now because our family is in the States for the next several weeks.) We have really been enjoying being together, and have tried to implement a schedule that makes time for "business" meetings as well as fellowship and fun activities -- in addition to language classes and study time, which is, of course, our primary purpose for being in Portugal.

The Angola Team, sans Alex and Stephen, with our teacher, Eunice (This picture was taken the morning after the Meyers and Reeses arrived.)

Danny and Katie have started watching Stephen for us three days a week while Rusty and I are in class, to help us save money on childcare. Eliana and Stephen are getting to be great buddies.

All the kids in their Ethiopian outfits (a gift from the Meyers) at one of our Monday team meetings.

One Friday a month is Girls' Night Out, and the guys keep the kids. On this night, we made a mountain of tortillas (some to eat, some to take home), ate dinner together, and then watched the new BBC version of "Emma."

One Friday a month is Guy's Night Out, and the girls keep the kids. The girls decided to have a little Bible class for the kids on these nights and rotate the teaching responsibilities. This was our first lesson, and I taught Noah and the Ark.

On the other Friday nights, we have a team dinner and fellowship at our house. This particular night included birthday celebrations for Rusty and Teague.

Every other Saturday is Date Night. One couple keeps all the kids for the evening so the other two couples can have a night out. On this night, while our kids were hanging out at the Reeses', Rusty and I enjoyed dinner at Chili's and going to see the new "Robin Hood."

On the other Saturdays, we have a team outing. Here are Eliana and Stephen digging in the sand on our first trip to the beach...

...and Alex and Efesson chasing the waves.

At the end of May, we had our first field trip all together. We went to Sintra, about a 40-minute train ride from Lisbon. More pictures to follow in another post. This was the group shot in front of the palace we toured.

First Steps, First Words, and Other Milestones

2010-06-05T18:55:00.001-04:00

Yes, that's right. "Baby" Stephen is officially a toddler now. He had been taking a few steps here and there for awhile. But he required a great deal of praise and encouragement to do so, and usually preferred just crawling everywhere. However, around the first part of May, he really took off and started walking all over the house. I just love the stiff-legged zombie walk that babies do when they are first learning! I'll try to post a video soon.

Stephen is also talking quite a bit. Most of it is just baby babble of course, but there are a few words he says quite clearly -- ba (ball), caca (cracker), sheesh (cheese, which we've decided is his all-purpose word for food), jush (juice), uh-oh, mama, and dada. He does the baby signs for "more" and "all done," waves bye-bye, and has just started giving big, slobbery kisses on the cheek when prompted.

We are pretty much done nursing. Weaning has drug on longer than I would have liked because Stephen had a little trouble learning to drink cow's milk. He refused it for the longest time until I started putting a tiny bit of chocolate powdered drink mix in his cup (not trying to make chocolate milk, just trying to sweeten it a tad). Once he was drinking that well, I weaned him off the chocolate powder. Now he tolerates the milk, but I think he still prefers juice or water. If I can get him to drink one cup a day, I'm happy -- I figure he's getting calcium from plenty of other sources.

At the beginning of May, we finally got around to celebrating Stephen's first birthday (over a month late, but he's too young to know the difference!). We waited until the rest of our team arrived in Portugal, so the other children could be a part of the celebration. We had a breakfast party with chocolate chip banana muffins, fresh fruit, chai, and coffee. In lieu of gifts, everyone brought a small item for Stephen's baby time capsule, to be opened on his 18th birthday. We did something similar for Alex on his first birthday, and wanted to continue the tradition. Stephen also got a couple of sets of Duplos from his Nyanya and Babu, as well as a cool ride-along train.

I enjoy watching Stephen achieve all these new milestones, but at the same time, I find myself feeling a little nostalgic, mostly because I wonder often if Stephen will be our last. We haven't yet decided if we want to try to have anymore kids. It's funny -- I always said I wanted at least 4 kids, but the more I think about it, the more I wonder if having a large family is really practical, considering our lifestyle. I know plenty of missionary families who have several kids, and they make it work... but Angola is so danged expensive. More kids means a bigger house (housing is the biggest line item in our budget), and also more expensive furloughs. It's already going to cost a small fortune to bring our family of four back to the U.S. every three years. I shudder to think of what it would cost if we had to pay for 6 tickets rather than 4.

So, the conversation about family size is one we have often right now. I remember a day back in January, when, probably in the middle of packing some awkward baby item, Rusty came marching upstairs and informed me that I needed to decide right then and there if we were going to have anymore kids, because if we weren't, we didn't need to take all this baby "junk" (he used a stronger word) to Angola. To which I replied that I was in no state to make that kind of decision right then. And anyway, as far as I'm concerned, you take the stuff with you as insurance, because we all know people who said they were done, got rid of all their baby gear, and then, "Oops, we're pregnant again!" If we don't have anymore kids, we'll give our baby stuff away in Angola to people who need it.

Rusty thinks it would be cool to have a baby on every continent we live on (Asia, North America, Europe, Africa). I think he's out of his mind. Truly, if I end up pregnant while we're here in Portugal, trying to learn another language, without maternity coverage, I think I might just have a nervous breakdown. However, I wouldn't mind having another baby once we are settled in Angola. But I think I could also honestly say that I would be just as happy if our family just stayed the size it is. I just want to do the best job I can with the two precious sons the Lord has already entrusted to me rather than worrying about when / if I'll have anymore.

Well, I'm not quite sure how a post that was meant to be about Stephen ended up here. If you're still reading this, then thanks, I knew you loved me! I'll leave you with a few pictures of the littlest Campbellite since this post was supposed to be about him:

Discovering grass and daisies

The birthday muffin cram

Our little engineer!

Top Ten: Alcobaça and Nazaré

2010-06-01T10:40:00.003-04:00

At the end of April, we went on our second field trip with Eunice. She took us to Alcobaça, about an hour's drive north of Lisbon, and to Nazaré, on the coast. Here are my "top ten" pics from this day:

Alcobaça is home to the colossal Mosteiro de Santa Maria, a church and former monastery, which we toured.

The inside of the church was very cool. The ginormous columns reminded me of something out of "Lord of the Rings."

The church houses the elaborately carved tombs of Dom Pedro and Inês. Read their ill-fated love-story here.

The monks had to enter the dining room through this narrow doorway. If you couldn't fit through, you were forced to fast!

At the top: Nathan, Doug and Mira Gentry, Jordan, Laura. In the windows: Rusty and Eunice.

Rusty and Nathan being goofy in one of the giant stone sinks in the kitchen.

After lunch in Alcobaça, we drove to Nazaré, a picturesque coastal town. The view from the cliff-top above the town was amazing.

One of the local women selling nuts and figs. She is in traditional dress -- a skirt with seven petticoats.

Admiring the view

This picture is going in our Wedding Anniversary scrapbook for year 11!

Alex Reading

2010-05-18T10:05:00.001-04:00

I have been meaning to post this video of Alex reading for some time now. Okay, obviously, he's not really reading. He memorizes books and then he pretends to read them -- with lots of expression, and turning the pages in all the right places. It's very cute. We received this book in a package from my mom last fall, "The Berenstein Bears and the Great Road Race." I read it to him about six times the first day. The next morning, I noticed that he already had it almost completely memorized. A few days later, Rusty took this video. Alex recites almost word for word what is in the book. Pretty impressive for a 3-year-old!

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